Laval International president and Vox ISM’s longtime customer Jonathon Azzopardi believes that the GM’s Oshawa plant closure won’t have much of an effect on Windsor.

The further you get from Oshawa, the less the impact will be. Windsor depends more on the border – Azzopardi

Jonathon Azzopardi

Azzopardi was on a trade mission in India when he heard the news and his first thought was how the GM’s Oshawa plant closure would affect the Windsor-Essex region.

The numbers said everything. For the last ten years, the production numbers had been dwindling. If Windsor doesn’t learn from what happened in Oshawa, it might happen here too – Azzopardi

GM's Oshawa Plant Workers
Members of Unifor, the union representing the workers of Oshawa's General Motors car assembly plant, parked their to block the entrance to the plant, Ont., Monday Nov 26 , 2018. General Motors will close its production plant in Oshawa, Ont., along with four facilities in the U.S. as part of a global reorganization that will see the company focus on electric and autonomous vehicle programs. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Eduardo Lima

We need to sure up our strategies here in Canada. We’ve been asking for a provincial strategy for a long time –  Azzopardi

Provincial and federal auto strategies have been discussed for years. The NDPs and Canadian Auto Workers have pushed for strategy discussion with no headway.

Once a plant is slated to close, Azzopardi said there’s nothing that can be done to save it. He suggests all plants in the auto sector lineup need to diversify — and soon.

They need to start talking now … We need to have our eyes on the future -Azzopardi