GM set to make major announcement at Oshawa plant

OSHAWA, Ont. — According to several sources and published reports, General Motors Canada is expected to announce up to 1,000 new jobs this week at its Oshawa location.

© GM Corp.

The Globe and Mail and the Toronto Star, citing unidentified sources, say the jobs are expected to be announced Friday at General Motors’ engineering centre in Oshawa, Ont. In the last couple of months, GM has made several steps towards developing driverless and connected car technology. This announcement could accelerate the automaker in this direction.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne are expected to be on hand when the announcement is made at GM’s Canadian headquarters.

The reports say the new positions will eventually be spread out at a number of General Motors research and development facilities. The fate of the Oshawa facility has been a hot debate as of late, with many industry leaders raising concerns about the automakers’s future plans for the plant. At the end of last year, GM cut production of the Camaro, moving it to a U.S. facility, and slashing 1,000 assembly-line jobs in Oshawa.

GM’s engineering centre, which is located in Oshawa, employs approximately 250 people and is developing innovative technology to compete with other global automakers striving to bring connected cars to the market. This announcement would be well received by General Motors’ employees facing a somewhat unknown future in Oshawa and could restore confidence in Canada’s automotive manufacturing community.

General Motors said in 2012 that it would spend $750 million on research and development by 2017 under a commitment to the federal and Ontario governments, which provided some of the money for a 2009 bailout of its U.S-based parent. Last year, the Canadian government sold its GM shares for $3.26 billion and the Ontario government also divested itself of remaining GM holdings.