It looks like our government in Ottawa will have to bail out Ford Chrysler and GM to the tune of billions of dollars. Now we have all heard by now that our c(C)onservative government prides itself of taking a very soberminded, fiscally responsible approach to governing. I am curious to see how they will deal with this issue. What kind of security will they demand in return for their "investment"? I sure hope they impose certain strict conditions and demands on these companies. Now I don't claim be a business man nor do I have a very solid understanding of high finance, but I think the government should just buy these plants outright and when the car industry is on the move again, they could sell those manufacturing facilities at a profit just as the US government did years ago with Chrysler. There was a nice tidy profit for the American taxpayer at the time.
Hopefully some Canadian investors (perhaps Frank Stronach, who is already in the automotive business) could jump in and take over these assets.
And I don't want to hear the argument that Canada is too small to support an automotive industry. I say: Bah Humbug, Nonsense, a tired, defeatist argument I am tired of hearing. Sweden, a country of nine million people has apparently not hesitated to come up with billions of dollars to support not just one but two Swedish car makers. And what's so wrong with the state owning a stake in a major car manufacturer? Renault, the French car maker, has been partially owned by the French state for decades and has flourished.
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