Conservative MP Jeff Watson (left) represents the Windsor-area riding of Essex. Watson is the first auto worker to ever be elected to the House of Commons. He turned to politics after being laid off by Chrysler when it closed down its Pillette Road plant in Windsor. After the meeting of the Conservative caucus today, I asked him today what he thought of the news that Ford will close its Essex engine plant.
Watson: Well, certainly it's a blow to the morale I think of our community, both between some of the agricultural problems and readjustments that are going on in the auto industry right now it's tough for the region. It's tough certainly and I know a number of the people who work at the Essex engine plant. Soplant when Daimler-Chrysler went through its turnaround and so I know that that kind of anxiety.
Akin: You criticized the Liberals a lot about lack of an auto policy. What about a public policy response that might help the auto sector?
Watson: Well, I would say that the Essex engine plant particularly — it produced an engine model for a minivan that wasn't selling particularly well in its segment so I think it's less related to structural problems in the auto industry than to competitive pressures I think within that segment. So, you know, if they had a more diversified product line, perhaps, you know, we wouldn't be looking at the same thing. But it's a model I think that the company decided it's time to go and, you know, the tough part is that people are laid off, right? And that's the hard thing but certainly I think that Ford will rebound after taking some drastic measures in the short term. They'll come back.
That was a rather long-winded way of saying nothing. He truly is a politician.