Automotive News Canada - September 2021 - 10

10
09.21
OPINION
We're here because
of one decision
Automotive
News Canada
exists as it is
because of a
conversation
on a set of
bleachers.
do it. "
In that moment - one decision
- Automotive News Canada was
suddenly a thing.
It took until November of that
year to get a rough framework
together, and we hosted a launch
dinner the following February at the
Canadian International AutoShow
in Toronto.
We picked Canada Day, 2016,
to begin publishing and those few
in-between months flew by as we
dug into the details.
It was a rare opportunity to creI
WAS ON VACATION MANY
years ago in Hawaii, kicking tires at
a small art shop, when the conversation
with the clerk turned to " you
should just up and move here. "
So began my verbal diarrhea,
reeling off the laundry list of complications
to do so. He listened at
first, stroked his long hippie beard
and then butted in with, " Hey, man
. . . it's just one decision. "
You know, he was 100 per cent
right. Make the decision and work
out the rest. Don't complicate or
overthink it. I didn't move to
Hawaii, but the lesson stuck.
I regaled my longtime friend
Jason Stein with the conversation,
and the phrase, " hey, it's just one
decision, " came up from
time to time over the years
when easy choices were
clouded by complications.
I don't know if I said it
out loud that day in May of
2015 when he asked the
question while we watched
his kids play soccer in
Windsor, Ont.
For those of you who
don't know, Jason Stein, a
Canadian, was at the time the
publisher of Automotive News in
Detroit. I was the
president of a syndicated
automotive
news service in
Canada.
There was a biting
wind that day,
and sitting high up
in the bleachers,
the question came
out of nowhere.
" I want to start
Automotive News Canada. Do you
know a good editor? "
Without hesitation, I said, " I'll
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
JEFF
MELNYCHUK
ate something out of nothing with
my friend Jason.
Stein: The
Canada
project was
" my baby. "
He and I were cut from the
same cloth, which was evident
from his mailed-in writing samples
that landed on my desk one day
about 20 years ago. You recall me
saying I was president of a syndicated
automotive news service?
Well, Jason applied to be a writer,
which he did for a number
of years, specializing in telling
colourful stories about
people. That's how we met.
Fast-forward to that set
of bleachers in 2015 and it
seemed like destiny that we
would work together again.
It's just what happens with
like minds.
Jason was as hands-on
as he could have been with
Automotive News Canada given his
many responsibilities as publisher
of Automotive News. He was
always in financial meetings or on
a stage in some city hosting some
event, it seemed.
But the Canada project had a
special place for Jason, a
Canadian. It's " my baby, " he said,
and he was directly responsible for
bringing on our top talent: Digital
and Mobile Editor Greg Layson;
Managing Editor Grace Macaluso;
and honorary Canadian John Irwin,
who believed enough in Jason to
move to Toronto from Detroit to be
a boots-on-the-ground reporter for
a fledging Automotive News
Canada.
So when conversations with
Jason recently began to circle
around leaving Automotive News,
after 18 years, for Michigan-based
consulting firm Motomindz, and to
host " Cars & Culture with Jason
Stein " on SiriusXM, and to launch
Flat Six Media, I was hardly surprised.
" Hey,
it's just one decision, " he
quipped.
Indeed it is, my friend. It's how
we all ended up here. - ANC
WRITE TO US:
We invite letters from our readers for publication (250word
max., please indicate " for publication " ). We reserve
the right to edit all submissions for length, content and clarity. Include your name, title,
company name, city and province, and tell us your connection to the auto industry.
Email letters to Grace.Macaluso@autonews.com
Impact of labour victory will
be felt beyond Mexico border
A LANDMARK DECISION BY WORKERS AT A
General Motors plant in Mexico could ultimately
end the cycle of labour exploitation in that country,
and the exodus of auto-manufacturing jobs from
Canada and the United States.
About 6,500 hourly employees at the Silao
pickup assembly plant voted to
reject their collective agreement,
according to an Aug. 19 story on
our website, automotivenews.
ca. The vote opens the door for
them to oust one of Mexico's
most powerful labour organizations
and freely join an independent
union.
Overseen by international monitors to ensure a
fair process, the vote was the first test of labour
rules under the United-States-Mexico-Canada
Agreement (USMCA), which replaced the 1994
North American Free Trade Agreement.
More money
for underpaid
workers in
Mexico is a step
toward fairness
between the
USMCA nations.
The outcome marks a
defeat for the local union, a
chapter of the CTM, which
has been mired in allegations
of corruption and of being
beholden to company interests.
" This
is huge, " said Jerry
Dias, national president of
Unifor, which represents hourly
workers at Detroit Three
plants in Canada. " This is
about GM workers in Silao having an opportunity to
... negotiate a fair contract. "
Workers there, he said, " are fed up with being
exploited. We've always advocated that a Mexican
worker ought to be able to afford the vehicles they
build. "
The August vote was held after an initial vote in
April was suspended when Mexico's labour ministry
found irregularities. That prompted the United
States to lodge the first complaint under the labour
enforcement mechanism of the USMCA, which
took effect last year.
Canadian government and union officials also
played a role in ensuring a fair
vote.
MACALUSO
MANAGING EDITOR
GRACE
" Throughout the process,
Canada has been in close contact
with U.S. and Mexican officials, "
said an emailed statement
from Ottawa. " This first use of the
RRLM [Rapid Response Labour
Mechanism] marks an important
step in the broader implementation of the [trade
deal's] labour provisions, intended to help improve
working conditions throughout North America and
ensure a level playing field for Canadian workers
and businesses. "
Before the August vote, Dias went to Mexico to
bolster the campaign for independent union representation.
" I wanted to send solidarity from the
Canadian autoworkers. "
The vote in Silao will also benefit his members,
Dias said. " Anytime I'm in bargaining, there's
always the fear factor about jobs going to Mexico. "
Why?
" Because we make [on average] all-in US $50
an hour; they make all-in US $2 an hour. "
Indeed, decades of auto investment flowing to
Mexico have not given birth to a healthy middle
class.
" I would argue that as a result of the [Silao]
vote, not only will Mexican workers be better off,
but Canadian and U.S. workers as well, " Dias said.
" We're starting to have fairness.
" It signifies that things are about to change. "
- ANC
The pandemic's new normal
Capacity
limits and
vaccine
PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY CRAIN COMMUNICATIONS, INC.
JEFF MELNYCHUK, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, 506.866.8236, Jeff.Melnychuk@autonews.com
GRACE MACALUSO, MANAGING EDITOR, 226.787.0441, Grace.Macaluso@autonews.com
GREG LAYSON, DIGITAL & MOBILE EDITOR, 519.567.8877, Greg.Layson@autonews.com
TIM DIMOPOULOS, MANAGING DIRECTOR/PUBLISHER
416.560.7663, tim.dimopoulos@autonews.com
ADVERTISING SALES
MATT PARSONS, 313.446.5866, mparsons@autonews.com
CUSTOMER SERVICE/SUBSCRIPTIONS: 877.812.1257
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CRAIN COMMUNICATIONS, INC.
KEITH E. CRAIN, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
KC CRAIN, GROUP PUBLISHER
DAVE VERSICAL, CHIEF OF EDITORIAL OPERATIONS, AUTOMOTIVE NEWS GROUP
passports will
likely be part
of life for the
foreseeable
future at
events.
COVID-19 HAS FORCED
plenty of change onto the auto
industry.
From health and safety protocols,
to by-appointment sales
in showrooms, to potentially
new microchip factories in the
southern United States, the
virus is reshaping the way automotive
does business.
And auto shows might be
next, at least in Canada, where
preventative measures across
the board are much more stringent
than those of our U.S.
cousins, whose lives seemed to
have returned to some sense
normality even
as cases surge
in many pockets
of the
Lower 48.
For Ontario,
it seems safe
to assume
capacity limits
and vaccine
passports will
be part of life
for the foreseeable
future.
And that
means sauntering into
February's Canadian
International AutoShow in
Toronto won't be as easy as it
once was - if the show happens
at all.
But one show did go ahead
from Sept. 10 to 13. The Drive
Festival, in the works since
DIGITAL AND
MOBILE EDITOR
GREG
LAYSON
2019, finally got under way in
Bowmanville, just outside of
Toronto. But it was a different
kind of event, one almost made
for the COVID-19 era, which
didn't exist when organizers
were first planning it nearly
three years ago.
It was an experiential show,
where visitors could book test
drives and rip around one of
three test tracks. Pre-booking
tickets was mandatory, and
capacity was capped per Step 3
of Ontario's reopening plan.
Test-drive access was monitored
individually by each automaker
on-site. Masks were also mandatory
on test drives, in washrooms
and in buildings, and
when registering for the event.
Physical distancing was mandatory
when walking the 900-acre
(360-hectare) venue, which
included extra-wide aisles to
facilitate social distancing.
Contact tracing was also in
place.
Welcome to the new normal.
For now, at least.
But even with all the restrictions
in place, Hyundai Canada
wasn't deterred. It jumped at
the chance to showcase the
Ioniq 5 electric vehicle for the
first time in Canada and allow
people to drive some of the
company's N Line performance
models.
" The great thing about an
outdoor event in current times
is ... that we're able to make
sure we're doing it safely, "
Christine Smith, Hyundai's
director of marketing, told me
on the Sept. 10 episode of the
Automotive News Canada podcast.
" Outdoor events provide
an extra level of comfort. "
Smith said this type of show
" really lets us
show people
what these
vehicles can
do. "
Smith:
Outdoor
events can
be launched
safely while
also getting
" butts "
into seats.
PHOTO:
HYUNDAI
CANADA
She's hopeful
these types
of experiential
shows become
a bigger part of
the auto show
circuit
post-pandemic.
" The most
butts we can
get into seats
and the more
ways we can
let people experience our product,
all the better. If we can get
people behind the wheel ... and
then talking about with their
friends, that's going to be the
best model for us. " - ANC

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Automotive News Canada - September 2021

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