Editorials
July 17, 2008 01:27 AM
It’s normally the plight of one-industry towns in Northern Ontario or fishing villages in Newfoundland.
The main local employer is on the verge of going belly-up and a lot of people fear they are about to lose their jobs.
In some cases, government will come along and offer help — a tax break, a grant to get that business through the hard times, a loan to retool and relaunch in some other more profitable form.
But those stories aren’t just from the north or the east anymore.
In December, Newmarket’s Tenatronics closed its doors. The employer of 380 people made antenna systems for the auto sector, including slumping GM.
The Canac cabinet making plant in Markham, which employed 1,200 workers, closed its Canadian operations in May, victim of the rising Canadian dollar and drop in demand from the dismal U.S. housing market.
In Vaughan, Progressive Moulded Products Ltd., a maker of dashboards for the auto business, locked out 2,400 workers citing financing problems and trouble in the auto industry.
For the former employees of these companies and other businesses in the manufacturing sector in York Region, these are very tough times. Loss of a job can mean upheavel in the home, mental health and drug and alcohol issues, trouble making mortgage payments, difficulty enrolling children in sports or music lessons or summer camp.
The region has lost thousands of manufacturing jobs the past few years, according to a regional report, meaning thousands of people are in this precarious position.
Unlike the north or the east coast, there are still jobs out there, but they are in the service sector and don’t pay as well. Are our federal and provincial ministers aware that these kinds of closures are happening right here, close to the big city?
A federal minister visiting the region last week said new laws will protect those losing their jobs by ensuring they get paid what they are owed when a firm goes under. While that may help in the short term, people in this position will need a lot more.
Retraining programs will be the key for many of them to find good jobs that keep them living above a subsistence level.
Propping up sectors that can’t survive rarely works in the long run. But certainly the many businesses that rely on the auto sector may soon need help to transition to the $1.50-a-litre world that’s on the horizon.
There will be tough choices ahead about whether or not we let these firms sink or swim, or throw them a life raft.