The plant has been on the bubble for more than three years, with little new investment and little confidence on the part of some analysts that Ford will ever build any new cars there beyond its aging rear-wheel-drive police cruisers and chauffeured sedans. The automaker says there is no product identified for the facility beyond 2011.

If Ford closes the plant, it will be a rare down note for a company carefully crafting a comeback. But among the labour leaders with the Canadian Auto Workers union, hope has a funny way of clinging to life.
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