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It was a rough week for the Canadian economy.
GM laid off 500 workers at a plant in Oshawa, Ont. New threats from the White House targeted Canada’s aerospace industry. And Statistics Canada announced its preliminary estimates show gross domestic product contracted in the fourth quarter of last year.
Looming over all that bad news is a question about how much and how quickly Canada can realistically expect to diversify its exports.
The federal government has announced plans to sharply increase its trade with countries around the world, bolster internal trade and boost investment in this country by as much as a trillion dollars over the next five years.
The problem is, those changes take time. And the squeeze on Canada’s economy is happening right now. Can the new plans actually deliver benefits quickly enough to offset the damage?
Consider Canada’s auto industry.
Hundreds of workers in Oshawa have ended what could be their final shift at the General Motors’ plant on Friday morning. CBC’s Christian D’avino has been there since some overnight workers finished their final shift.
That sector is one of the worst hit though the trade war. Thousands of jobs have been lost. Shifts have been idled. Windsor, Ont., had the highest unemployment rate in the country.
“Manufacturing jobs as a share of Ontario’s total employment recently fell below 10 per cent for the first time since record keeping began in 1976,” wrote the Ontario government’s financial accountability officer in a report last year.
As part of its diversification efforts, the federal government signed a memorandum of understanding with South Korea last week. It said the deal included the “intention to co-operate on advancing a Korean automotive industrial footprint in Canada.”
Right now, no Korean automaker has a production facility in Canada. And the move was seen by many as a small flicker for hope for an industry that’s had such a tough year.
“Canada is an auto nation — today, tomorrow and in the future — so our government is making strategic investments to protect jobs and strengthen the auto sector across the country,” wrote the government in a release.
But the reality may be less promising than first implied.
“There are currently no plans for Hyundai Motor Group or Hyundai Auto Canada to establish vehicle manufacturing operations in Canada,” wrote the company in a statement to CBC News.
“We are reviewing a range of co-operation opportunities, including potential collaboration in the hydrogen energy sector to support Canada’s clean energy transition.”
Hyundai has heavily invested in hydrogen-fueled cars. They have longer range and can…
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