Ontario hosts most of the assembly plants and parts makers facilities that operate in Canada. Today's announcement comes a month after the province's government pledged a $1.3 billion assistance funding for GM and Chrysler owned facilities in the region.
This package will most likely come from Export Development Canada and will help, indirectly, the suppliers and parts makers. "You can't realistically talk about the future of this sector and not take into account our auto parts suppliers," McGuinty said.
The parts makers asked for more help as a result of US governments' decision to provide a $5 billion aid package to its suppliers. Still, Ontario officials insist that the aid granted to both GM and Chrysler will help the suppliers.
"If there are conditions attached to monies that might flow to the auto sector, one of those conditions is going to be that they have to ensure that they are paying their suppliers in addition to maintaining their own operations," the premier added.
It was only at the end of March when Canada said that the two manufacturers' plans "not go far enough and will not be certified as viable in their current form", therefor granting only $200 million Chrysler out of the $800 million requested. As for GM, it too will get a small fraction of the $2.4 billion it needed.
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