While we learn how to shop Canadian, make decisions about our upcoming vacations or conferences in the United States, maybe boo the American anthem at hockey and basketball games, some workers and their families face an immediate threat that is not about what they will substitute for their morning orange juice.
The Trump tariffs will slam some industries in Canada fast and hard. They will close shop doors that will lead to layoffs and job loss. While a 30-day reprieve has been announced, analysts still warn of recession-like conditions to come.
In a recent interview on CBC Cross Country Checkup, ironically in his car, Flavio Volpe, President of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association, gave a first-hand demonstration of the integration of the auto industry. He described that his car was assembled near Detroit, the engine in Guelph, the seat he was in was made in London, and the steering wheel he held in Kingsville.
Tariffs placed on Canadian products would immediately put manufacturers in the auto sector in a loss situation that will cascade through the entire industry.
Volpe predicted, based on both experiences during the COVID lockdown and Ambassador bridge shutdown by the self-named ‘Freedom Convoy’, that plant shutdowns could happen within a week leaving tens of thousands out of work.
We’ve been down this road before and this is where the manufacturing industry collides with gutted social policies leading to homelessness and as Judy Rebick noted in her recent column, “They should have listened to us about free trade,” 40 years ago the Left warned about the dangers of economic integration with the U.S.
In 1989, I heard about the Inglis plant closure in Toronto. The plant was famous for its employment of women during the 1940s, when it had produced over 150,000 Bren machine guns during the Second World War, and then during peacetime for its production of washers and dryers. The plant closure was attributed to the new Canada–United States Free Trade Agreement, with production transferred to a non-union plant in Ohio. Several months after its closure, I was shocked to see some of the plant’s laid-off workers, newly homeless at the Dixon Hall men’s shelter in our nursing clinic.
This was my first lesson in economics as a street nurse.
Years later I had the opportunity to produce several films about family homelessness with documentary filmmaker Laura Sky. Our purpose was to show the impact and spur discussion on the impact of the housing crisis on families, which was by and large invisible. The three film series, Home Safe Calgary, Home Safe Hamilton, Home Safe Toronto illustrate a range of social issues that are standalone, apart from their locale naming.
While filming Home Safe Toronto, the economy hit the wall. There were cuts to employment benefits, massive layoffs and an increase in poverty and homelessness. This restructuring of the manufacturing economy matched the retrenchment restructuring of social policy including housing. As Sky noted “this footprint will last for years to come.”
It’s important to note that during these years the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW now Unifor) were actively engaged in social justice work. They participated in rallies, funded the portable toilets at Tent City, funded the advocacy of Toronto Disaster Relief Committee and joined with us in all aspects of housing advocacy.
A strong story thread evolved during the filming of Home Safe Toronto as we learned the impact of trade agreements on the auto industry. Several families recounted their experience as life as they knew it was sideswiped by the collapse of the Ontario auto sector, a calamity that makes little distinction between unionized and non-unionized workers. A non-unionized auto worker in the film recounts earning $12 per hour prior to his layoff, another who was unionized described the challenges of obtaining full-time work and to do so needed to relocate this family to another community. Their spouses and children solemnly share intimate details of their struggles.
Jim McDowell is a second-generation autoworker (his dad worked at the Ford plant in Oakville). As a longtime CAW (now Unifor) worker he is also a social justice advocate. In 2009 while laid off he worked as a peer helper at one of the CAW’s Workers Action Centre. This centre provided invaluable support for laid off workers. Funded by the Ontario and federal government staff and peer volunteers at the help centre researched viable economic sectors for reemployment, offered retraining, help with resumes, job searches and support.
With the recent tariff news, I had to check in with McDowell to get his reaction. Here is what he had to say:
“I think honestly, we have to get away from the distraction of tariffs and the United States. We have no control over what Donald Trump will impose on Canada and workers. We should view this as a wake-up call, as Canadian workers and for the Canadian economy we can no longer rely on the United States for our economic preservation. The new reality is that for the next four years, we must start expanding all our economic sectors, increase our ability to expand to markets in Asia, South America, Europe.”
He solemnly adds, “This is a multi-generational issue for me.”
I see it that way too. During filming we saw the impact on children, moved from family homes and communities sometimes to homeless shelters, then into less-than-ideal housing. The impact on family relationships and health was palpable.
In the film, McDowell’s colleague Cammie Pierce describes what she has seen.
“We have reached the point where people have run out of benefits both company benefits and government benefits like employment insurance. We have reached the point where people can’t meet their financial obligations. The stress is phenomenal, we have people coming in whose marriages are breaking up. It becomes a family issue.,” Pierce says in the film.
Tariffs have been a huge wake-up call to Canadians. What’s next beyond our individual “buy Canada choices?”
In the film McDowell warns us that Canada undervalues manufacturing. Today he cautions that: “The hardest part of this is we don’t know what will happen until it happens. We have to look at worse case scenarios, hope for the best, plan for the worst. As a country, we must be as flexible as possible, supporting both workers but also corporations to offset the damage being done by the threat of tariffs.”
Unifor’s National President Lana Payne provides a clear prescription for government actions that need to protect workers and the economy. However, solidarity between the labour movement and community social justice movements needs a strong boost.
Films can be a catalyst for change, and I always return to the critical questions of the kids in the film:
“I wanna know why this is happening and why hasn’t something big and drastic been done before and can it be done now…..maybe build more affordable housing raise the minimum wage….there are no policies about affordable housing and I’m wondering why that is …why the government would choose to do that?”
Why indeed. I invite you to grab a bag of Canadian popcorn and watch, learn and listen from the families in Home Safe Toronto.
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