Carney returns to Ottawa to discuss U.S. tariffs, financial markets with cabinet
Prime Minister Mark Carney, speaking on Friday from Parliament Hill following a meeting with the cabinet committee on Canada-U.S. relations and national security, says the developments on the U.S. tariff policy this week, Chinese retaliation, and the financial markets were discussed at the meeting.
The Latest
A GM assembly plant in Ingersoll, Ont., will be temporarily shutting down, affecting 500 jobs.Liberal Leader Mark Carney called the layoffs “deeply painful news” and vowed government support for workers.Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, campaigning on his economic plan today in St. Catharines, Ont., said he is “incredibly saddened” by the layoffs.Poilievre also pledged Conservatives would ensure workers “keep their jobs as we fight through this mess.”NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh called for an EI raise, federal projects to use Canadian steel and banning American companies from procurement contracts.Earlier, Carney met with the cabinet committee on Canada-U.S. relations, telling media afterward that U.S. tariffs are already affecting Canada’s economy.Updates
April 11
23 hours ago
That’s all for today
Jenna Benchetrit
Workers take part in a grand-opening event at General Motors’s CAMI EV plant, in Ingersoll, Ont., on Dec. 5, 2022. (Evan Mitsui/CBC)We’re wrapping up this live page shortly — thanks for following along. Here are some stories to catch up on before the weekend:
CBC London reporter Alessio Donnini is updating our breaking news story about the temporary shutdown of a GM assembly plant in Ingersoll, Ont.
Senior writer Chris Iorfida wrote this story about the U.S. requiring Canadian citizens to register if they’ll be in the country for 30 days or longer.
CBC News’s visual investigations team wanted to check claims made by the Carney and Poilievre campaigns about their rally crowd sizes. So they counted attendees by hand.
My colleague Verity Stevenson wrote about a letter from a group of Canadian mayors urging federal leaders to act on climate change.
Don’t forget, next week is a big one: the federal leaders will finally meet on the debate stage in Montreal.
The French debate is set for Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET, while the English debate takes place Thursday at 7 p.m. We’ll have a supersized live page running on both nights. Stay tuned.
Have a good weekend.
23 hours ago
Singh calls plant shutdown ‘devastating’
Verity Stevenson
Singh takes part in a press conference at the Broadbent Institute’s 2025 Progress Summit during a campaign stop in Ottawa on Friday. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press)NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh also commented on the plant shutdown, calling it “devastating.”
“Hundreds of working people are worried about how they’ll keep food on the table,” Singh wrote on X.
He said Canada needs to raise employment insurance compensation “so it actually covers the bills.” He also repeated his call for an NDP action plan to use Canadian steel in federal projects and ban American companies from federal procurement contracts.
“It’s time to put workers and jobs at the heart of Canada’s tariff fightback plan,” he wrote.
23 hours ago
Carney calls GM layoffs ‘deeply painful news’
Verity Stevenson
Carney leaves a cabinet committee on Canada-U.S. relations and national security on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Friday. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)Liberal Leader Mark Carney has reacted to the GM plant shutdown in Ingersoll with a statement on X.
“We will fight every day for the workers who build this country,” Carney said.
He reiterated his move as prime minister before the election to remove delays on claiming employment insurance and make it easier to claim.
“Today’s layoffs are deeply painful news for autoworkers in Ingersoll and for workers throughout Canada’s auto industry,” Carney wrote, adding his team is in regular contact with Unifor President Lana Payne.
He also said the Canada-U.S. cabinet committee which met today laid out plans so that “Canada is ready to negotiate with the United States from a position of strength.”
24 hours ago
Tariffs the ‘final nail in the coffin’
Verity Stevenson
GM plant chair says Ingersoll plant shutdown ‘devastating’ to community
Mike Van Boekel, Unifor Local 88 CAMI plant chair, says Friday’s announcement of a temporary shutdown of the GM assembly plant in Ingersoll, Ont., resulting in hundreds of layoffs, wasn’t a shock due to struggling sales and the Trump tariffs were ‘the final nail in the coffin.’
Mike Van Boekel, chairperson for Unifor’s Local 88 at the GM plant, says that while the shutdown wasn’t entirely surprising due to low sales, “it’s like a tough shot to the gut right now.”
Van Boekel said the union had recently renegotiated the workers’ collective agreement so that those who are laid off will receive two-thirds of their salary.
But he noted many couples work at the Ingersoll plant, meaning both partners will be taking home less income.
He said he’d like to see the provincial and federal governments create procurement policies that would encourage local companies to buy locally-made vehicles and more infrastructure for electric vehicles across the country.
Canada Post had been in talks to replace 10,000 delivery trucks with the BrightDrop Zevo but was also considering a U.S.-made option, which Van Boekel said he didn’t understand.
GM said its decision isn’t based on the U.S. new auto sector tariffs. But Van Boekel said, “you put a tariff on a truck that’s $100,000, you add $20,000 just in tariffs, that’s almost just like the final nail in the coffin.”
April 11 · 3:48 PM EDT
‘GM wants to be here long-term,’ says Ingersoll mayor
Verity Stevenson
Hundreds of layoffs expected at Ingersoll, Ont., assembly plant as GM halts production
General Motors has announced a temporary shutdown of its CAMI Assembly plant in Ingersoll, Ont., with hundreds of layoffs expected. GM says the decision is not tied to U.S. tariffs, but is due to decreased market demand and high inventory levels of the BrightDrop electric vehicle. Mayor of Ingersoll Brian Petrie weighs in.
The GM plant shutdown in Ingersoll, which is about 40 kilometres east of London, Ont., is due to a decline in demand for the electric delivery trucks it assembles, according to the town’s mayor Brian Petrie.
Petrie says he was told General Motors would be working to come up with another product for the plant.
“That is what I’ve heard and I welcome that,” Petrie told CBC News’s Andrew Nichols. “I know GM wants to be here long-term.”
Petrie said the company has operated in the community since 1986. While the shutdown may not be directly related to auto sector tariffs for the moment, Petrie said the tariffs are “always concerning with everything changing.”
He said “it’s not a good day” for his community, but added that Unifor, the union representing workers at the plant, has set up an action centre to help laid-off workers.
“I know that they’re going to be taken care of and we’re going to be there to help do it,” Petrie said, adding he’s also reaching out to the Ontario government, which had invested in the GM plant.
April 11 · 2:27 PM EDT
GM says plant’s temporary closure due to market
Verity Stevenson
Since 2022, workers at GM’s CAMI Assembly plant in Ingersoll, Ont., have worked to build the BrightDrop electric-powered delivery van. (Andrew Lupton/CBC News)Hi, Verity here, working on your afternoon live updates. My colleague Alessio Donnini is reporting more details about the GM plant shutdown in Ingersoll, Ont., which is causing hundreds of layoffs.
The General Motors CAMI Assembly plant will shut down next month with plans to reopen in the fall at half capacity.
The company said in a statement today that production is coming to a halt as a direct result of the market.
The CAMI plant employs approximately 1,200 workers. The union said today that layoffs will start Monday, with some production continuing into May. After that, production will stop until October.
Once production resumes, it will only be with one shift “for the foreseeable future,” the statement said, leading to the layoff of 500 workers.
Two models of the BrightDrop Zevo electric delivery vehicle are made on site, and sales have lagged behind the competition with numbers released by GM showing a total of 427 vehicles sold in Canada in 2024, and 1,529 in the United States.
You can read more here.
April 11 · 1:59 PM EDT
Poilievre reacts to GM plant closure
Holly Cabrera
In response to the news of the upcoming temporary closure of GM’s CAMI Assembly plant in Ingersoll, Ont., Poilievre said he is “incredibly saddened by the layoffs.”
He said he spoke with Unifor Local 88 GM Plant chairperson Mike Van Boekel to express his commitment to protecting Canadian autoworkers.
“We will keep them working, so they can keep their jobs as we fight through this mess,” Poilievre said in a social media post. “A Conservative government will push hard to put an end to these tariffs and get a quick but fair deal that protects our sovereignty and our economy.”
He noted that U.S. President Donald Trump is “betraying America’s closest friend and attacking our economy.”
April 11 · 1:19 PM EDT
Some grim news for the auto sector
Holly Cabrera
Employees work at GM’s CAMI EV Assembly in Ingersoll, Ont., in 2022. (Carlos Osorio/Reuters)GM’s CAMI Assembly plant in Ingersoll, Ont., will be temporarily shutting down, sources connected with the industry have told CBC’s David Cochrane.
The plant will be shut down in May and stay closed until at least October. When it reopens, it will have just one shift.
The net result is that 500 people will be receiving layoff notices, Cochrane reports.
The news was first reported by CTV.
April 11 · 1:06 PM EDT
Singh takes aim at Carney for Brookfield’s ties to tax havens
Holly Cabrera
Singh said he worries Carney won’t crack down on offshore tax havens, amid new reports that Brookfield Asset Management, which Carney chaired before running for the Liberal Party, registered entities in the Cayman Islands.
“There’s more evidence that Mark Carney has chosen to not contribute to Canada when he was managing these funds. And here’s another example in the Cayman Islands,” Singh said.
Dodging a question about whether he believed that Carney is using his role as prime minister to his advantage in the middle of the campaign, Singh said Carney should be more transparent in his decisions.
Singh said employment insurance should be increased to help Canadians make ends meet. For some workers, EI only covers half of their salary, which is not enough for them to get by, he said.
“People need to see investments in our health care. They need to see protections for our workers. And that’s what New Democrats are going to fight for,” Singh said.
April 11 · 12:55 PM EDT
Singh says it’s best ‘one party doesn’t have all the power’
Jenna Benchetrit
Jagmeet Singh adapts his message to keep NDP relevant
The NDP is fighting for every single vote in this election campaign, forcing party leader Jagmeet Singh to adjust his message in order to remain relevant to Canadians. He’s stopped saying he’s running for prime minister and instead says he wants more NDP MPs elected.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is urging Canadians to send more New Democrats to Ottawa to hold the future government to account. In recent days, he’s stopped saying that he’s running for prime minister.
“Because people voted for us, we were able to hold the government to account,” Singh told reporters today in Ottawa. He pointed to instances when the NDP pushed for the minority Liberal government to proceed with social programs like dental care and pharmacare.
“In all of this, I think Canadians know it’s best [when] one party doesn’t have all the power,” he said.
Singh was also asked if the election is over, and if he’s conceding that the Liberals will win. According to CBC’s aggregated Poll Tracker, the NDP appears to be on track to lose most of its seats and the Liberal Party is poised to win a majority government.
Singh didn’t answer, nor did he say whether he’ll stay on as NDP leader.
“I think campaigns matter,” he said. “I want Canadians to know that your vote does matter.”
