Open Letter to Prime Minister Trudeau:
Order the Use of the GM Oshawa Plant
for Essential Medical Production
April 5, 2020
We call on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to issue an immediate order for the production of essential medical equipment and supplies in the Oshawa GM complex and related parts supplier facilities.
This should be the first step towards establishing a publicly owned manufacturing centre that could supply strategically necessary goods in times of crisis.
As the Covid-19 pandemic surges in Ontario and Canada, we must ensure that our health care system is not overwhelmed, and that all necessary medical equipment, PPE and related supplies are provided.
Some companies have already stepped forward to assist with the manufacture of ventilators and masks, and General Motors is helping to make ventilators in Ohio, but GM of Canada has not yet made a major contribution. What has been offered so far will not remotely meet the need as this crisis escalates. We cannot rely on the good will of a few companies, we need the government to use its emergency powers to order the production that is required.
We are seeing the consequences of not having manufacturing capacity in Canada when the government of the US threatens to prevent delivery of N95 masks manufactured there. We are also seeing that private ownership of manufacturing and supply and demand leads to skyrocketing prices and lack of supply of equipment and pharmaceuticals at a time of crisis.
Green Jobs Oshawa
We call on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to issue an immediate order for the production of essential medical equipment and supplies in the Oshawa GM complex and related parts supplier facilities.
This should be the first step towards establishing a publicly owned manufacturing centre that could supply strategically necessary goods in times of crisis.
- The GM manufacturing complex has 10 million square feet – 90% of it unused.
- Other supplier companies in the Oshawa area are also empty as a result of GM’s decision to end vehicle assembly in Oshawa.
- Thousands of highly skilled GM and supplier workers are unemployed as a result of GM’s actions, and would be eager to work on this crucially needed production.
As the Covid-19 pandemic surges in Ontario and Canada, we must ensure that our health care system is not overwhelmed, and that all necessary medical equipment, PPE and related supplies are provided.
Some companies have already stepped forward to assist with the manufacture of ventilators and masks, and General Motors is helping to make ventilators in Ohio, but GM of Canada has not yet made a major contribution. What has been offered so far will not remotely meet the need as this crisis escalates. We cannot rely on the good will of a few companies, we need the government to use its emergency powers to order the production that is required.
We are seeing the consequences of not having manufacturing capacity in Canada when the government of the US threatens to prevent delivery of N95 masks manufactured there. We are also seeing that private ownership of manufacturing and supply and demand leads to skyrocketing prices and lack of supply of equipment and pharmaceuticals at a time of crisis.
- Order the manufacturing of necessary equipment immediately in Oshawa, and require the cooperation of General Motors of Canada.
- Use this as the first step towards establishing a Crown Corporation in the vacant 90% of the Oshawa complex, to provide Canada with a secure source of vitally necessary medical and other products for the future.
- Use a publicly owned manufacturing hub in Oshawa to also prepare for the looming climate crisis. The lack of preparation for this pandemic is a stark warning that a Green New Deal must be launched now.
Green Jobs Oshawa
Further reading:
Tom Walkom's Toronto Star column
With global trade all bets are off during a pandemic
With global trade all bets are off during a pandemic
"Tellingly, there has been no effort by the federal government to do the obvious and convert a portion of General Motors’ shuttered Oshawa plant into a factory permanently mandated to produce medical supplies.Such a move would create jobs at this harsh time. It would also help Canada deal with this epidemic and prepare for future ones." Thursday, April 2, 2020
Ontario Council of Hospital Unions release
Health minister misinformed: 87 per cent of Ontario health care staff polled say not enough PPE on hand to keep them safe
Health minister misinformed: 87 per cent of Ontario health care staff polled say not enough PPE on hand to keep them safe
“Our hospital members report that supplies are being rationed. In long-term care and home care these protections are especially scarce. There is a sense of abandonment and a building anger that the Ontario government has downgraded its safety protocols. We are asking for those protocols to be toughened; for expired masks to be distributed and for industry to be immediately directed to produce masks and testing kits." Michael Hurley president of CUPE’s Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU/CUPE), March 30, 2020
Financial Post interview, April 3, 2020
Jerry Dias: Reopen auto plants and put people to work building what we need to fight coronavirus
Jerry Dias: Reopen auto plants and put people to work building what we need to fight coronavirus
BBC News, April 3, 2020
Coronavirus: US 'wants 3M to end mask exports to Canada and Latin America'
Coronavirus: US 'wants 3M to end mask exports to Canada and Latin America'
"A major US mask manufacturer, 3M, says the government has asked it to stop exporting US-made N95 masks to Canada and Latin America."
"The company says manufactures about 100 million N95 masks per month - about a third are made in the US, and the rest produced overseas."
"Canada does not manufacture any N95 masks domestically."
"The company says manufactures about 100 million N95 masks per month - about a third are made in the US, and the rest produced overseas."
"Canada does not manufacture any N95 masks domestically."
Linda McQuaig's Toronto Star Column
The public lab that could have helped fight COVID-19 pandemic
The public lab that could have helped fight COVID-19 pandemic
"Canada once had a publicly owned pharmaceutical company that could have made a difference in the current coronavirus crisis — except that we sold it."
"Hated by its corporate competitors, Connaught was unique among pharmaceutical companies in that its focus was on human need, not profit."
"If a publicly owned Connaught were still operating today, it could be contributing to the development of the coronavirus vaccine — and ensuring a Canadian supply if there was a global shortage.
Yet, tragically it isn’t.
Succumbing to corporate pressure and a misguided belief that the private sector always does things better, Brian Mulroney’s Progressive Conservative government privatized Connaught Labs in the 1980s. Today, what remains of this once-dazzling Canadian public enterprise has been taken over by a giant French pharmaceutical company.
The coronavirus outbreak may finally help expose the fallacy of the notion that the private marketplace is innately superior — which has been the guiding principle in Anglo-American countries (including Canada) for the past four decades, leading to the constant denigration of government and its functions."
"Hated by its corporate competitors, Connaught was unique among pharmaceutical companies in that its focus was on human need, not profit."
"If a publicly owned Connaught were still operating today, it could be contributing to the development of the coronavirus vaccine — and ensuring a Canadian supply if there was a global shortage.
Yet, tragically it isn’t.
Succumbing to corporate pressure and a misguided belief that the private sector always does things better, Brian Mulroney’s Progressive Conservative government privatized Connaught Labs in the 1980s. Today, what remains of this once-dazzling Canadian public enterprise has been taken over by a giant French pharmaceutical company.
The coronavirus outbreak may finally help expose the fallacy of the notion that the private marketplace is innately superior — which has been the guiding principle in Anglo-American countries (including Canada) for the past four decades, leading to the constant denigration of government and its functions."