Premier Doug Ford says a major auto assembly plant in western Ontario must quickly reopen after it announced a two-week shutdown in the face of U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest tariffs.
Stellantis confirmed it would introduce a temporary shutdown of its auto assembly plant in Windsor, Ont., between April 7 and April 21 after Trump put 25 per cent tariffs on non-U.S. vehicles.
The Windsor Assembly Plant produces the Chrysler Pacifica, Chrysler Grand Caravan, Chrysler Voyager and Dodge Charger Daytona.
Ford said he remained hopeful the shutdown would only last the scheduled two weeks and not lead to job losses.
“I hope it doesn’t come to retraining because hopefully this plant’s going to reopen — it’s a temporary shutdown,” he said. “I’ve mentioned my concerns to the CEO of Stellantis and how we need to have this plant up and going, which it should be up and running.”
Unifor, the union which represents workers at the Windsor assembly plant, said it was worried about job losses.
“Our members are concerned for their jobs and frustrated by the uncertainty that these unjust and needless tariffs are creating across the industry,” Unifor Local 444 President James Stewart said in a statement.
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“We are prepared to fight for our jobs with the full backing of Unifor members across the country.”
Unifor, which is the largest private sector union in the country, said it represents 4,500 workers at the Stellantis plant in Windsor and more employed in the local supply chain.
During the recent election campaign, Ford had promised tens of billions of dollars in tariff relief. His platform included support for payroll, tax referral, retraining and triage centres for laid-off workers.
Speaking on Thursday morning, however, Ford said the federal government would actually take the lead on supporting workers.
“We’re working with the federal government. They’ll be making announcements and we’ll be there to support the auto workers every which way we can,” he said.
Ford added he felt the auto sector remained in danger — and would need tariffs to be dropped or drastically reduced.
“I think the threat is very high. Even at 12.5 per cent (tariffs), these auto companies aren’t making money hand over fist,” he said. “They’re basically trying to get by day by day and keep their people employed.”
Opposition parties are calling on the premier to convene a cross-party working group to decide on support for workers and broader economic reform to reduce reliance on the U.S. economy.
“I think it’s really important that in advance of the legislature returning that we have an opportunity to talk about what’s coming forward,” NDP Leader Marit Stiles said Thursday.
“I think the premier would do well to listen to folks of all political stripes and also the voices of those working people, those community members and their families who are going to be the most deeply impacted.”
The Liberals have echoed that call — and MPP Stephanie Bowman, the party’s finance critic, said all parties could work on a buy local policy.
“We have called on the premier to make sure all parties are at the table — all of us I’m sure have good ideas,” she said. “I think that one of the things that we’re really talking about is building and buying local.”
The Ontario legislature is set to return on April 14 and Ford has said his first legislation will tackle interprovincial trade barriers.
— with a file from The Canadian Press
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