It Is Cold Out

Brrrr, the weather is not all that good these days. I just find it to be quite cold, cold enough that I really do not want to go out for a walk. Instead, I stay inside our condo and do things here to occupy my day. Naturally, I have to do some exercising so I go down to the basement and do work on our equipment down here so that I can stay as fit as I possibly can.

One of the events that I find it difficult to deal with is the weather forecasting. For example, a while ago it was supposed to be quite a miserable weekend with rain falling. Instead, it was nothing like this whatsoever. There was no rain coming down at all. In fact, at the last moment, the weather forecast changed completely. I have found the weather forecasts not to be all that accurate to be honest. Is it the weather itself that causes the changes or could it be that the weather office just cannot come up with something that we can expect to happen. For whatever reason that is.

It does mean that I produce more articles than I expected. After all, I do need to spend some time doing things. I just do not want to spend my time only watching movies on television. Naturally, as I have pointed out before, it does take some time for an article to be started and then finished. However, I do enjoy doing this because I am generally learning something new every time I do my research before I start posting my newest article.

I am looking forward to spring coming. As I am sure that you can guess, I will be going out as much as possible once the weather warms up just to keep myself in good shape. That has become a very important project for me to do after my illness. If the weather is at the right temperature, I will be doing walks several times a day just to keep myself in shape. Also, it gives me a chance to look around at all of the plants that are being grown by my neighbours in the area. I just find the beauty quite something.

I think that I had better stop talking, dear reader, and start producing some materials for you to enjoy reading today.

GOVERNMENTS WAKING UP

Well, well, well. It seems that the Federal and Provincial governments have figured out that they better wake up now and start doing something on the job situation with General Motors or else the Parties in power might find themselves thrown out in the next election. The Federal Government especially should be concerned given its election in a few months.

I saw this in the media recently:

“Unifor takes fight against General Motors to the Detroit auto show” (Trevor Wilhelm, Windsor Star, January 14, 2019)

Here is the key paragraph:

“As you’re all aware, we have not been overly thrilled with the lack of fighting from the provincial premier, from the prime minister’s office,” Dias told reporters. “But today has been a very important day, because in discussions today with Minister Bains from the federal government and a face-to-face meeting with the premier, it appear as if people are starting to take a different tact.”

The “people” sure are. The approach that they are taking is that they better get off their you know what and start doing something or else they might lose out in the next election. Even if it means pretending that they are doing something when they know that nothing will change.

Just to remind you, dear reader, if GM Canada closes down, it could be the starter for what happened in Australia as I pointed out before:

“The doors have just closed on the Australian car manufacturing industry forever. General Motors’ Aussie outpost, Holden, turned out the lights on 20 October, when the Commodore production line fell silent just two weeks after the local Toyota Camry factory shut.

Holden and Toyota were able to carry on manufacturing for 12 months after Ford closed its assembly line last October because they had higher production volumes, but not enough demand to survive in the long run.” (Autocar, October 16, 2017)  

WHY BE WORRIED

Seriously, why should anyone in our area be concerned about the automobile industry jobs that we have here. Oh sure, plants are closing down in other areas in North America as they have around the world but everything is so wonderful here that we ought not to be worried, right.

Just take a look at this so you will understand why everything is so positive in our area:

“Ford Motor Company remains invested in Windsor-Essex, VP says”

Presumably this should last for quite a period of time:

“There’s a lot of change happening in the auto industry, but it’s going to take time to play out,” he said. “We think it’s going to be a transition we can manage, and we’re really excited about our plans in Windsor.” (Trevor Wilhelm, Windsor Star, January 14, 2019) 

It is not just the Ford plant that will be opened in Windsor for the long-term but take a look at what Chrysler is saying:

“I think if you look at our performance inside the segments — let’s first start with the minivan Pacifica and then combined with our Caravan, we’ve actually had our best year in a long time in terms of total sales, in terms of actual market share.”

He pointed out that the company completed $2 billion in investments at the Windsor plant in 2016.

“I consider that our place and home for our vans,” said Beahm. “We just made a massive investment, not only on our product but also in the plant. So my view is we got a home, and we got a home where we’re going to be building cars at and that’s the plan as far as my knowledge.” (Trevor Wilhelm, Windsor Star, January 14, 2019) 

Wow, this is unbelievably wonderful is it not, dear reader! Who needs to worry now about our future, right! I probably would have said this except for this small comment here:

“Mike Manley, FCA’s chief executive officer, said he wouldn’t make specific announcements about the future of any plants.”

Yes, dear reader. Everything is so positive except who knows what is going to happen down the road and when that time is.

Mmm, Mmm...NOT SO GOOD

“That’s what Campbell soups are,” at least respecting some that are made in Canada, based on a story that was published about a year ago that I only saw recently:

“Campbell Soup closing 87-year-old Toronto facility; 380 jobs to be affected” (Eric Atkins, Globe and Mail, January 26, 2018) 

This is being done because:

“Campbell Soup Co. will close its 87-year-old Toronto factory and shift production to the United States amid a decline in soup consumption.”

The soup will now be provided by Campbell through its US Plants.

The story also provides that a lot of farmers in Ontario will suffer because of this.