Posted on 07/03/2005 3:25:54 PM PDT by ItsJeff
WOODSTOCK, Ont. (CP) - Ontario workers are well-trained.
That simple explanation was cited as a main reason why Toyota turned its back on hundreds of millions of dollars in subsidies offered from several American states in favour of building a second Ontario plant.
Industry experts say Ontarians are easier and cheaper to train - helping make it more cost-efficient to train workers when the new Woodstock plant opens in 2008, 40 kilometres away from its skilled workforce in Cambridge.
"The level of the workforce in general is so high that the training program you need for people, even for people who have not worked in a Toyota plant before, is minimal compared to what you have to go through in the southeastern United States," said Gerry Fedchun, president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers' Association, whose members will see increased business with the new plant.
Acknowledging it was the "worst-kept secret" throughout Ontario's automotive industry, Toyota confirmed months of speculation Thursday by announcing plans to build a 1,300-worker factory in the southwestern Ontario city.
"Welcome to Woodstock - that's something I've been waiting a long time to say," Ray Tanguay, president of Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada, told hundreds gathered at a high school gymnasium.
The plant will produce the RAV-4, dubbed by some as a "mini sport-utility vehicle" that Toyota currently makes only in Japan. It plans to build 100,000 vehicles annually.
The factory will cost $800 million to build, with the federal and provincial governments kicking in $125 million of that to help cover research, training and infrastructure costs.
Several U.S. states were reportedly prepared to offer more than double that amount of subsidy. But Fedchun said much of that extra money would have been eaten away by higher training costs than are necessary for the Woodstock project.
He said Nissan and Honda have encountered difficulties getting new plants up to full production in recent years in Mississippi and Alabama due to an untrained - and often illiterate - workforce. In Alabama, trainers had to use "pictorials" to teach some illiterate workers how to use high-tech plant equipment.
"The educational level and the skill level of the people down there is so much lower than it is in Ontario," Fedchun said.
In addition to lower training costs, Canadian workers are also $4 to $5 cheaper to employ partly thanks to the taxpayer-funded health-care system in Canada, said federal Industry Minister David Emmerson.
"Most people don't think of our health-care system as being a competitive advantage," he said.
Tanguay said Toyota's decision on where to build its seventh North American plant was "not only about money."
"It's about being in the right place," he said, noting the company can rely on the expertise of experienced Cambridge workers to help get Woodstock up and running.
Premier Dalton McGuinty said the money the province and Ottawa are pledging for the project is well-spent. His government has committed $400 million, including the latest Toyota package, to the province's auto sector, which helped finance $5-billion worth of industry projects.
"I think that's a great investment that will more than pay for itself in terms of new jobs and new economic returns," McGuinty said.
The provincial funds for the auto sector were drawn from a fund set up to attract investments specifically in that industry. McGuinty said no similar industry funds are being planned for other sectors, but added the province wants to attract biotechnology companies - those working on multibillion-dollar advanced medical research.
"What we have done for auto we would like to be able to do for biotech," he said. "That's where we're lending some real focus to at the present time."
Similarly, Emmerson said Ottawa is looking to help out industries that create "clusters" of jobs around them - such as in aerospace, shipbuilding, telecommunications and forestry - where supply bases build around a large manufacturer.
© The Canadian Press, 2005
"Nothing sheds more light than injecting "racism" into every discussion."
The Japanese aren't fond of blacks. I don't know if that had anything to do with their decision but there it is.
Japanese Auto Industry in Ontario
Honda, Alliston,Ontario. Start-up November,1986. Production 392,230 (2003) 
Toyota Cambridge,Ontario. Start-up November,1988. Production 227,540 (2003)
Cami Automotive (Suzuki/GM), Ingersoll, Ontario. Start-up April, 1989. Production 51,475 (2003) 
And all their Auto Parts, Machine Tools and Materials Suppliers
The Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers' Association
The CVMA’s membership includes DaimlerChrysler Canada Inc.; Ford Motor Company of Canada, Limited; General Motors of Canada Limited; and International Truck and Engine Corporation Canada.
Plant locations in Ontario...
Brampton
Oakville
St. Thomas
Oshawa
Relevant to the education issue it asserts that "43% of our auto manufacturing employees have completed their post-secondary education versus 27% in the U.S."
It also makes claims regarding Productivity...
Should read:
"Canadian workers are also $4 to $5 cheaper to employ partly thanks to the fact that we don't have a health-care system," said federal Industry Minister David Emmerson.
"A local employment service had to drop a question from their screening test because too many applicants were missing the question: "20 is what percent of 100?""
You have that right. Each year, on the first day of class, I ask my college freshmen in my financial accounting class to calculate 32% of 100. Less than half of them can answer the question correctly.
So what? Well , so what if he's telling the truth . But then if it's taken as an insult , what does it matter? I'm sure no one in Ontario really cares .
Ya'll Yankees done convinced me. I reckon the South
ain't as good as the north. I reckon when I retire
I'll move up there. Anyone got a house to sell in
downtown Cleveland, or Detroit?
Studebacker folded because their bodywork was manufactured by Fisher in Dearborn.
When GM bought the Fisher bodyworks they refused to sell to Studebacker and put them out of business.
Studebacker tried to come back with the all aluminum Avanti but couldn't recover.
In it's last year of operation a Studebacker Avanti won the land speed record at Bonneville salt flats running a turbcharged Packard engine.
http://aoai.org/bonville.htm
Unions didn't kill Studebacker, GM did and they went on to brag that Chevrolet's had a body by Fisher.
Meanwhile no GM product at the time could beat 200 mph in the measured mile.
Stop reading those SPLC newsletters.
Just for your information since you are a newbie, having an opinion differing from yours does not make one a troll. In fact since you have only been here since March I doubt you know what a troll is. Now if you have an argument proving me wrong about Toyota ---state it,
Thanks to our socialistic public education system!
http://www.neoperspectives.com/charterschoolsexplained.htm
We make some of the most critical and precise and expensive devices used in the aerospace industry, have a quite literate work force and the fact is pictorial illustrations are some of the most efficient tools that can be used in assembly procedures.
Defending ghouls with Scientologist lawyers who snuff their wives DOES make you a troll. So does a loose and unsubstantiated chare of racism against a company like Toyota.
There are trolls like _Jim who have been here since forever. And, FYI I have been here under another name longer than you.
$31.30 Canadian is $25.12 United States dollars at today's exchange rate.
Looks like we've fallen behind. No wonder so many are now home schooling their kids!
.
The whites were prisoners sent to the Georgia and Carolina penal colonies from England.
The blacks were usually sold to slavers by other blacks who didn't much care for them in Africa.
The Latinos are economic refugees, i.e. they couldn't make a living in Central and South America, so they came here.
A disproportionate number of home-schooled and private-schooled kids win the National Spelling Bee.
NOTE: FReeRepublic's spellcheck does not recognize "home-schooled."
Not that it makes an difference , but why change your name?
What makes you the authority on murder that you can try and convict Michael Schiavvo and call him a murderer.? What gives you the right to try and convict Michael Schiavvo and then call my charge against Toyota loose and unsubstatiated. , I say your claim against Schiavvo is loose and unsubstantiated especially given the autopsy results that you choose to ignore. Yet you call him a ghoul and what does the religion of his lawyer have to do with anything? I dont like scientology either but that doesnt mean his lawyer has no right to defend his client. If there is a troll here sir , it is you. Not only a troll but opinionated to the point of a lack of credibility..By the way I challenged you to disprove my post about Toyota and you havent even made an attempt. Right now Toyota has a plant in Kentucky, certainly the Kentuckians cannot be that much more literate than Mississipians or Alabamans.What problems has Toyota run into in Kentucky that a new plant in Canada will not face? Answer that one. I certainly dont believe its illiteracy. As for Racism, The Japanese are noted for it.
The only time the exchange rate really hits home to me is during Freepathons ;~)
I spent a couple of months working in an auto parts plant and I don't think they could pay me enough to go back to that type of work. I'm more of a Pony Express type of guy.
But that said,$31.30/hr Cdn is way more than I have ever made in a sustained manner.
If I were a young man with a family and looking to buy a home I'd be very grateful for that level of income.
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