General Motors (GM) has played a pivotal role in shaping Oshawa, Ontario, into one of Canada’s most iconic automotive cities, with a history that stretches over a century.
Early Beginnings
Robert McLaughlin founded the McLaughlin Carriage Company in 1869, moving operations to Oshawa in 1879. By 1907, his son, R. S. McLaughlin, established the McLaughlin Motor Car Company, producing the first McLaughlin-Buick automobiles by combining Buick engines with locally built bodies. This marked Oshawa’s entry into the automotive era.
In 1918, General Motors purchased the McLaughlin Motor Car Company, merging it with Chevrolet and other Canadian operations to form General Motors of Canada.
Growth, Innovation, and Community Impact (1920s-1950s)
- 1920s–30s: Rapid growth; by 1928, 5,000 workers and a car produced every minute.
- WWII: Plant shifts to military production, making vehicles and aircraft parts.
- 1953: South Plant opens, the largest auto assembly plant in the Commonwealth.
- GM supports local schools, hospitals, and community projects.
Peak Years and Labour Movements (1960s-1980s)
- 1980s: Workforce peaks at 23,000; Oshawa produces 40% of Canadian cars.
- Vehicles exported globally; plant wins quality awards.
- Labour unions (UAW Local 222) form after major strikes, shaping worker rights.
Challenges, Decline, and Transformation (1990s-2018)
GM Oshawa faced significant challenges in the late 20th and early 21st centuries:
- Globalization and automation lead to layoffs and plant closures.
- 2008: Financial crisis prompts government bailout.
- 2018: GM announces end of vehicle assembly in Oshawa, closing a 111-year chapter.
Legacy and Today
GM’s impact on Oshawa is visible in its infrastructure, culture, and community institutions. The company’s philanthropic efforts supported schools, hospitals, and public spaces, while its innovations in manufacturing set industry standards. Even after large-scale production ended, GM continued to adapt, including producing medical masks during the COVID-19 pandemic and investing in electric vehicle manufacturing elsewhere in Canada.
Today
GM’s history in Oshawa is a story of industrial growth, community impact, and adaptation-leaving a lasting legacy on the city and Canadian automotive history. However, GM Canada has always succumbed to market places demands, economic pressures and shareholder obligations.
Today, GM Canada kneels before a new master, the “madman from the south.” The already diminished Oshawa plant will cancel its third shift this fall, eliminating 700 jobs. The reason, T****-imposed 25% tariffs on Canadian-built vehicles.
Shift workforce reduction will begin in June with heavy duty truck production.
Unifor president, Lana Payne is critical of GM for its actions. “GM needs to reverse this short-sighted move before more damage is done… GM’s move is premature and disrespectful – jumping the gun before Prime Minister Carney and President Trump even begin their talks on a new economic deal.” She added that “the Trump tariffs are “clearly aimed” at Canadian assembly plants, like Oshawa.”
Newly elected Prime Minister Carney will be watched as to how and when he responds to this challenge. Canada is the mouse lying by the sleeping elephant and that elephant is tossing and turning a lot and unpredictably in its sleep. The temptation is to respond with economic weaponry such as corresponding tariffs against AmeriKa, a defence like blasting peas at an elephant with a pea-shooter.
As always, the power brokers’ actions affect the lower factions of society first if not only. More than 700 workers and their families will be affected by the madman’s declarations. Canadians look like they will suffer, first. Mortgages will be defaulted, rents payments will fail, evictions will occur, all while these families will struggle to put food on the table in ever increasing prices. Thanks jerko !
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Adding insult to injury….
