$4 billion bailout no gift – union bosses

By DON PEAT, JONATHAN JENKINS AND JENNY YUEN
A $4-billion bailout is an investment in the Canadian economy, not a Christmas gift from Premier Dalton McGuinty and Prime Minister Stephen Harper, the Canadian Auto Workers national president says.
Ken Lewenza told reporters yesterday the two governments did the responsible thing by agreeing to an auto aid package.
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Ontario mayors hail auto bailout

Canada offers $4 billion in loans to automakers
By DON PEAT, SUN MEDIA
Ontario mayors welcomed yesterday’s auto announcement but hoped the much-needed aid doesn’t idle too long so it’s stalled out by the new year.
“This has finally happened,” Oshawa Mayor John Gray told the Sun yesterday just after the announcement. “I wished it happened a while ago because it would have lifted a lot of the uncertainty. They have done the right thing and they are trying to preserve our share of automotive production in North America.”
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A bailout that sticks in the public’s craw

DEREK DeCLOET
Globe and Mail Update

It’s hard to pinpoint the exact moment when Rick Wagoner, the auto workers’ unions and the rest of the Detroit apparatus lost their grip on the public. Maybe it was when they admitted, during a mid-November trip to Washington to beg for money, that they’d flown there on corporate jets. Or maybe it happened long before that.
It doesn’t matter now. What matters is that the auto industry has lost its ability to sway opinion. What’s good for General Motors is no longer what’s good for America. That’s what Americans say, at least.
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