Buzz Hargrove gets it wrong

Subject: interview with Buzz Hargrove on CBC today

I thank the CAW for trying to mix jobs and the environment. It’s a good strategy. However, I don’t think your short-term strategy is going to work.

If I were to listen to you, you think that we can continue for another 100 years to build automobiles, they just need to be more efficient. That’s not enough. We have to move FAR FASTER.

If we don’t retool NOW, there will be no TRANSPORTATION industry in Canada. That means a whole new approach to mobility — it means less automobile ownership, and more short-term leasing, rental, co-ops, transit, and the like. People need to able to buy only as much mobility as they need.

That means that your industry will have to change from being something that builds products to a service industry. That means fewer robots, and more labour. Robots can’t overhaul vehicles after their 5 year warantee is over.

Further, in the short-term if California reduces their emissions, and Ontario plants don’t produce automobiles that can be sold in California, then… where will you sell them? Do you really think the Ontario market is big enough?

YES, that’s unfortunately ones that are built in Ontario due to the Auto pact. Maybe… it’s time to fix THAT.

If the CAW really cared about doing things right, they’d insist that their employers STOP investing in automobiles that nobody wants to buy. The SUV/Minivan craze is OVER. YOU knew this 5 years ago, but 0% financing kept the market alive for awhile, and then the major slump as everyone replaced their vehicles early.