Canada to help reopen Ford plant

$75M in Canadian incentives will aid the automaker in launching an engine research plant.

Associated Press

WINDSOR, Ontario -- Canada's prime minister and Ford Motor Co. said Wednesday a new research center for environmentally friendly technologies will be launched in a government partnership that includes up to $75 million in government funding.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper said up to 757 auto sector jobs will be created or sustained in Windsor, Ontario. The partnership would see Ford open a new flexible engine assembly plant in Windsor on the site where another plant was closed last year, resulting in about 900 lost jobs.

Ford said in March that it would reopen the Essex Engine Plant, which was closed in November.

The announcement came a day after another 800 Ontario manufacturing workers at tractor maker Deere & Company were told their jobs would be disappearing -- and days before the anticipated start of a federal election campaign in Canada.

Opposition parties called the announcement "pork barreling and buying votes."

Canadian Auto Workers Union President Buzz Hargrove said he was "furious" over the timing of the announcement.

He said Harper and his government have "completely ignored the manufacturing sector but now they're calling an election and all of a sudden they want to be seen to be doing something."

"One can't help but be cynical," he added, "but we'll take anything we can get right now to save one job."

Windsor Mayor Eddie Francis said he was ecstatic about the announcement and wasn't bothered by its timing.

Ford said it is planning to invest an additional $395 million to transform the Essex Engine Plant into a flexible manufacturing facility. The plant will perform research into engine efficiency and new fuel technologies.

Harper said they have to invest in cars that people will want to buy in the future. Canada previously announced it would spend up to $250 million to help the auto industry.

Canada's auto industry employs 150,000 people and is responsible for one-fourth of Canada's manufacturing exports, Harper said.