Auto Bailout Is Money Down the Drain

PM Harper, following the lead set by the US, has approved a $4-billion bailout of the auto industry. GM gets $3billion and Chrysler $1billon.

These companies have failed consistently in the marketplace - in large part because they built monster trucks and SUVS - instead of the fuel-efficient, affordable cars that people wanted.

GM has shown little to no corporate responsibility on climate change - building bigger, more polluting vehicles while the climate crisis deepens.

Here's a solution that involves workers taking drastically reduced wages for companies which have very little chance of surviving.

Here's a bailout that is essentially cash down the drain. It's too little, too late to save the companies.

Four years ago these debt-ridden, monolithic auto companies looked like they would lurch to bankruptcy. Now it looks even more likely that they will slowly but surely fail. The question is how much tax-payer money will they take with them in the process. With GM losing $52,000 a minute, the shorter its death throes are, the better.

Think what we could do with those billions of dollars of bailout cash if the same sum was invested in green transport (i.e. public transport) and technology. Not only would all Canadians benefit directly, but we'd be helping to build an economy for tomorrow rather than trying to prop up an industry that has had its day and is only going to be a drain on the country's financial and natural resources.