#gm canada

[thegikitiki]

Big, Powerful, and Rugged...

Oldsmobile Delta 88, 1974

[yahoonewsdigest-ca]

Bailing out of the bail-out: Ottawa sells remaining GM shares for $3.3B

Business

Bailing out of the bail-out: Ottawa sells remaining GM shares for $3.3B

The Harper government unloaded its multibillion-dollar stake in General Motors on Monday, tapping into a stockpile of cash that could help it overcome the oil slump and fulfill its key promise to balance the election-year budget. Taxpayers' stake in the automaker was worth more than $3.3 billion Monday, but it's unclear exactly how much the sale will benefit Ottawa's bottom line. Ottawa needed to make $4 billion in proceeds from its remaining shares to break even on its original 2009 investment, which was part of the effort to bail out the then-sputtering automaker. The sell-off comes as the Conservative government searches for ways to live up to its crucial promise to balance its books in 2015-16, a long-running pledge that appeared at risk of remaining unfulfilled amid the negative economic impacts of the global oil slump. Did the federal government postpone the budget by a couple of months in order to sell the GM shares during the 2015-16 fiscal year?

I think the timing would suggest that that's definitely a possibility. But whether or not they made that decision to delay the budget in order to do that is a question I think you'd have to ask Minister Oliver.

TD Bank senior economist Randall Bartlett

Last fall, the government predicted a $1.6-billion surplus for 2015-16, but crude prices fell even further in the months that followed. Oliver has even acknowledged achieving balance may mean dipping into Ottawa's $3-billion contingency reserve, which was set aside for unforeseen circumstances. He made no mention of the government's quest to balance the books in a statement Monday to announce the deal. Oliver said the sale means GM has returned to private-sector ownership and taxpayers are no longer exposed to the market. Ottawa had long reiterated its intention to eventually unload the shares.

Our investment in GM was always meant to be temporary. We never believed the Government should be a shareholder of a private sector company for an indefinite period of time.

Finance Minister Joe Oliver

[newsdetector]

A new article has been published on www.NewsDetector.com

A new article has been published on http://www.newsdetector.com

GM Canada to Invest $443M in Assembly Plant

ENLARGE General Motors Co. ’s Canadian unit said Thursday it would invest 560 million Canadian dollars ($443 million) in its Ingersoll, Ontario assembly plant to build the next generation of its Equinox sport-utility vehicle. General Motors of C...

[pawprintcooper]

Canada keen to find out if GM Canada delayed recalls, breaking law

Canada keen to find out if GM Canada delayed recalls, breaking law

Canadian government officials are trying to determine whether the Canadian unit of General Motors delayed the recall of some cars, breaking the law in doing so, after the U.S. fined the parent company $35 million for its delayed response.

Transport Minister Lisa Reitt said in the wake of the U.S. move to fine General Motors for not recalling cars with faulty ignition switches as soon as it knew…

View On WordPress

[macleansmag]

Ask yourself: Why shouldn’t a woman be CEO of a car company? When you consider we probably buy 50 per cent of the cars and trucks and we influence more than 80 per cent of the purchase decisions. So there’s absolutely no reason why a woman shouldn’t be running an automotive company today.

- Thoughts on GM's newly-announced first female CEO, Mary Barra, from an earlier automotive trailblazer: Maureen Kempston Darkes, the first woman president of GM Canada. Read the full Q&A with Maureen: http://ow.ly/rE7oV