‘Light at the end of the tunnel’: How an Ontario city got through auto-plant closure

Ontario city says Oshawa GM workers will persevere The mayor of St. Thomas said that the city was able to make up the jobs lost after two automotive plants closed.

About eight years ago approximately 5,000 people lost their jobs after two large automotive production plants closed in a small city in southern Ontario. Some former employees say that while the expected closure of the General Motors assembly plant in Oshawa may seem bleak at the moment, the impacted workers will persevere.

Ford Motor Company closed its assembly plant in St. Thomas, located just outside of London, Ont., in 2011. Around the same time, a large truck manufacturing plant also closed its doors.

In total, about 5,000 people were left without work.

Scott Hannah worked on the assembly line for 10 years before the Ford plant was shut down.

“Next thing you know, you don’t know if you are going to be able to afford your mortgage,” he told CTV News Toronto. “I actually went back to school when we closed to prepare for my future.”

The former plant was demolished and the company is now preparing to sell the 650-acre property.

“Those plants, for the most part have been backfilled by new industries and new sectors and we’re turning the corner into new facilities and things that we really want to focus on,” Sean Dyke, CEO of the St. Thomas Economic Development Corporation, said.

The mayor of St. Thomas said that while the loss of 5,000 jobs in a community of 30,000 “was something,” the town has made those jobs back.

“The community has, over those 10 years, grown and now we smile a lot and say, look at how we’re growing. We almost can’t handle our growth. We have to grow smartly now. Oshawa will do the same thing,” Joe Preston said.

General Motors announced in late November that they would be closing the assembly plant in Oshawa, as well as the Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant, the Lordstown Complex in Warren, Ohio, and the propulsion plants in White Marsh, Md., and Warren, Mich.

Autoworkers rallied in Windsor earlier this week and vowed to keep fighting the shutdown of the plant.

While on their way to the rally, some of the GM employees stopped in at Railway City Brewing Company in St. Thomas. The craft brewery was co-founded by a former Ford worker.

Hannah, who is now an employee at the brewery, said that he hopes the employees stay positive.

“There’s a light at the end of the tunnel,” he said. “There’s always something around the corner. Try to move forward as best you can.”

With files from CTV News Toronto's Scott Lightfoot