Post Davos – Part II.
Okay, we already have a solution for the many federal public servants that we are laying off in an effort to reduce the bloated federal government presence; but, what about Premier Ford and his concern about his auto industry?

First of all, have him listen to the PM’s Davos speech at least three times. As a reward, he gets a glass of Canadian Club from Gimli, Manitoba. But then he has to read Bob Chartier’s seminal book Letter’s to a Young Public Servant. By that moment, he will be calm enough to hear what I am going to suggest next (and thus can be part of your joint letter to him & the PM, with a c.c. to Pierre P out of courtesy).

Quit crying about the auto industry. The one disappointment with PM Harper was that after investing in GM (which I applauded) he did not demand ownership of the GM Plant at Oshawa along with complete rights to producing the Chevrolet Volt, alongside all pickup trucks to be sold in Canada. But while that ship has sailed, others have thankfully moved into the harbour.
• In a joint effort, the governments of Ontario, Québec & Ottawa nationalize all the Stellantis plants in Canada along with the PacCar trucking plant (in Québec)! [These can then be resold back into the private sector as soon as this initial period of activity is underway!!]
• The next step is to legislate that all trucks sold in Canada must have the majority of the steel, aluminum & related basic components, from Canadian sources.
• Having set the framework (push these two items through the appropriate legislatures in the next month) all Stellantis plants (which include access to Ram trucks as well as Jeeps) are converted to the production of military vehicles – initially these will be trucks, Jeeps & SUV’s while a rapid design team determines what northern-adaptive vehicles could be build for deployment in the Arctic (partnerships with corporations like Bombardier would be not only beneficial but necessary).
• All current producers of military hardware would be brought together in a C.D. Howe type collaboration to determine what machinery could be built where, with the least disruption to supply chains; the result would be that at the earliest moment with whatever partnerships are feasible (including the nationalized plants) production would begin on the new northern initiatives. Having access to increased production from the PacCar plant would certainly boost the amount of heavy truck available (and thus would also add to the business of those who building semi-trailers &/or military hardware that needs to be towed – we already have the knowhow to drive trucks to the Beaufort Sea, so this isn’t going to be a deterent to the truck manufacturers.
• In a partnership with China, production would be arranged so that any Chinese automobile to be sold beyond the initial 49,000 would be built in Canada (where possible, current plants of the other American auto producers would be acquired if they were thinking of shuttering them!). If these were not available, then Japanese manufacturers would be encouraged to join the partnerships (primarily Honda & Toyota). [This could also help mitigate the concern that the Chinese cars are spy cars, as the electronics would also have to be built in Canada!]
• At the same time, all other tariffs on imported autos would be dropped so if there is a need, or even desire for cars from Allies, that are now built in the USA, they could arrive. Along with this, South Korea would be invited to built assembly plants at least in Central Canada. It would also be valuable to reach our to Volvo (Sweden) as it is not only a very diversified manufacturer, it has experience with northern climes (and they make some superb heavy-duty equipment). They may have some very interesting ideas about partnerships as well.
• The possibilities around having our own Jeeps, pickups and even modified SUV’s available for the north is exciting; equally so, the greater availability of EV’s & PHEV’s for the domestic market could help mitigate some of the losses of exporting to the USA.

So federal cabinet, waste no time in puttering around about how to compensate the auto workers now that we are trying to improve our trade with China. The military needs equipment (especially now that we are enlisting a great many public servants) and you need to teach them how to procure quickly. Here is the opportunity of a lifetime to get a whole myriad of interests coming together to make us a self-reliant country once again.

In reflection,
g.w.