Prime Minister Harper to announce subsidy renewal for auto industry, say sources
TORONTO - Prime Minister Stephen Harper will reportedly announce today that Ottawa will set aside $250 million for car companies and their suppliers. The Globe and Mail says Harper will use a visit to the Ford plant in Oakville, Ont., to announce a renewal of the five-year Automotive Innovation Fund.
The fund, established in 2008, required companies to invest their own money to access government cash. Government sources have said the fund helped generate $1.6 billion of research-and-development and innovation projects. The federal and Ontario governments contributed $10.6 billion to the bailout of General Motors during the 2009 recession, when the company restructured under court protection.
The five-year renewal comes amid a controversy over government assistance to the auto industry, after GM of Canada said in late December that it will shift production of the Chevrolet Camaro from Oshawa, Ont., to a plant in Michigan in 2015. Government sources say Ottawa is renewing the fund to help the auto-manufacturing sector remain competitive and protect close to 500,000 direct and spinoff jobs linked to the auto industry.
