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Ontario New Democrats pitch 'zero emissions' auto strategy to save Windsor jobs

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Windsor, Ont. -

Days after automaker Stellantis announced it will be cutting the second shift at the Windsor Assembly Plant, the Ontario New Democrats are pitching a zero emissions vehicle plan to “fight for auto jobs in Windsor now and for generations to come.”

“I will never, ever give up on these workers and their families,” said NDP leader, Andrea Horwath. “Thousands of people are laying awake at night, worrying about their financial future. They’re worried their kids won’t have the opportunity to stay here in Windsor, raise their families and earn a good pension here.”

Stellantis attributes some of its struggles to the world-wide semi-conductor shortage as well as other economic pressures caused by the pandemic.

The looming loss of the second shift at Windsor Assembly Plant in the spring of 2022 could result in 1,800 job losses — along with the loss of spin-off jobs at area parts suppliers.

During a visit to Windsor-Essex Monday, Premier Doug Ford said he wants to see three shifts at the plants again and that the federal and provincial governments would be making a "huge" investment to help ramp up production.

Horwath says she’s watched successive Liberal and Conservative governments miss opportunities to create a made-in-Ontario auto strategy for decades, and as official opposition, the New Democrats have come up with one of their own.

“Doug Ford needs to fight for these jobs. Fight for our fair share of the semiconductor chip supply, and fight for assembly contracts to come to Ontario,” Horwath says.

Here are some details from the strategy:

Auto manufacturing, sales and purchases

• Provide world-leading financial incentives for Ontario auto manufacturing plants to re-tool to produce electric vehicles

• Set a province-wide electric vehicle sales target of 15 per cent by 2025, 45 per cent by 2030, and 100 per cent by 2035

• Offer strong incentives to buy an electric vehicle, excluding luxury vehicles but with added incentive to buy manufactured-in-Canada electric vehicles

• Completely electrify government fleets by 2030

Charging

• Give households $600 to install a charging station at home

• Require builders to put vehicle charging capacity in new homes

• Build charging stations on public properties, like GO Train stations and along roadways

Public Transit

• Work with municipalities to electrify all municipal transit fleets by 2040

• Take immediate steps to electrify the GO Train network on an accelerated timeline to replace dirty diesel trains along all lines

• Reverse the provincial funding cuts the former Conservative and Liberal governments made to municipal transit and paratransit services

More details to come…

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