Skilled Trades Association, CAW Local 199 St. Catharines (General Motors Unit) | ||||||
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Originally printed in the Welland Tribune, December 22, 2004 (page A5) The federal government should "absolutely" provide more cash to help fund a General Motors expansion plan that could benefit the company's St. Catharines operations, says St. Catharines Liberal MP Walt Lastewka. "This is an excellent university and company joint project," said Lastewka, who is a former GM senior executive. "We just cannot take the auto industry for granted here." A published report Tuesday said federal Industry Minister David Emerson has cabinet authority to provide General Motors with $200 million to help the company launch its $2.5‑billion Beacon Project. The Beacon Project would link new research and development with some of GM's Ontario operations and might eventually mean more work for the company's St. Catharines plants. When the plan was originally revealed in October, its cost was pegged at $2 billion. Earlier reports indicated the plan would depend on an infusion of about $400 million from the provincial and federal governments. Ontario recently agreed to bolster its contribution to more than $200 million and possibly as much as $250 million. Tuesday's report said GM wants the federal government to also boost its commitment. GM "was able to expand the project to $2.5 billion," said Lastewka in an interview Tuesday. "The auto company has said, "We'd like the province and the federal government to up the ante a bit." Lastewka said he's spoken up in caucus and met with Emerson on "numerous" occasions about being "proactive about the auto industry." He said the federal loans to GM would be repayable "over the very long haul." In its original concept, GM said the Beacon project would create a Canadian automotive centre of excellence in Oshawa and would create the country's first university degree in automotive design and engineering. The centre would be based at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology in Oshawa and would include studies in auto education, research and development and engineering. Other universities and colleges would stand to benefit from research from the Beacon Project. "I think the federal government should cough up the money (which will have) a positive impact for the city of St. Catharines," said Doug Orr, CAW Local 199 unit chairman for both GM plants in St. Catharines. "That's just in our infrastructure alone and our tax base that is created by General Motors employees," he said. Orr said he understood the Beacon Project would support "already existing work" in St. Catharines and "brings longevity to those products." "It supports existing jobs... I believe it's a $22‑million technology change for gas improvements in V‑8 engines," he said. GM spokesman Stew Low said three Ontario cities with GM operations are "potentially involved" with the Beacon Project ‑ St. Catharines, Ingersoll and Oshawa. "We haven't gone into any detail with respect to what the projects are and that kind of thing," said Low. "And we're just not prepared to get into that kind of detail at this point." Low said GM has discussed the project "for quite some time" with the provincial and federal government." The talks were about "potential future investments we'd like to make in the province and whether the government(s) would be interested in investing and partnering with us," he said. "Those discussions are ongoing." | ||||||
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