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We're going to see a wave of workers that this impacts harshly. Right now, my understanding is that there are lots of tech jobs available right now. That's not helping those impacted by the shifting of the manufacturing industry.
It's good news for recent grads and those that go back to school/training, but doesn't help everyone (end off topic)
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(11-27-2018, 01:50 PM)Momo26 Wrote: Also don't mean to go off topic but let's be honest, being a soon-to-be-if-not-already ex-manufacturing city (K-W Cambridge region for that matter), this factory closing goes to show how important it is for us as a region to continue to invest in tomorrow's technologies and jobs: Hi-tech, services, automation and innovation.
Retrain the GM workers to electrify the GO system, build the freight bypass, then crew and maintain Regional Express Rail.
...K
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In all serious... there are a lot of families that will be impacted in ways that many of us have never experienced. This isn't about politics. It is about an organization that has used government for payouts with a promise of a future that they were not able to deliver on. People will lose their homes. Children will be denied their opportunities for higher learning. Try and put yourself in their shoes for a minute and have some empathy.
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You would be hard pressed to find a more empathetic human than KevinT.
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(11-27-2018, 10:55 PM)Rainrider22 Wrote: In all serious... there are a lot of families that will be impacted in ways that many of us have never experienced. This isn't about politics. It is about an organization that has used government for payouts with a promise of a future that they were not able to deliver on. People will lose their homes. Children will be denied their opportunities for higher learning. Try and put yourself in their shoes for a minute and have some empathy.
This is exactly the issue for these people; you'll have young families with kids still in school, mortgages, bills, and they're now screwed. I know what it that is liked, but I was able to bounce back, a little bit easier to do when you're only 30. Now I am older, and unsure how I could bounce back, it would be difficult to say the least.
What really surprises me here is, though, that companies like Ford and GM are abandoning 'car' manufacturing. I had not realized (being a car driver myself) that less and less people are driving cars -- in favour of driving SUV's and trucks instead. Fuel efficiency be damned I guess.
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We are being pushed towards trucks, SUVs, and crossovers in a myriad of ways. Of all people, Doug Ford, who sneers at smaller/more efficient vehicles and the environment, shouldn't be surprised about an electric car factory going away. We are being sold on being instantly prepared for anything we might ever encounter; I still have friends who own an SUV or pickup truck because they expect to haul a load of "X" once every few years, instead of considering having it delivered, renting a bigger vehicle that day, or using a trailer. Even at work, I'm amazed at how many people won't take transit or bike to work, even when they admit it is often easier/cheaper, because they're afraid of that one time when they need to go home early (which makes the TravelWise Emergency taxi fund an eye-opening realization for them). And above all else, as we've watched Mexico pay for upwards of two thirds of new car plants to shift production southward, and with Trump's "America First" perspective, we shouldn't be surprised that our small nation isn't able to expect much as consumers look to squeeze every dollar out of purchase prices. These, and all kinds of closures, are a simple obvious result of not wanting to pay a penny more than we need to, and now those pennies are starting to add up to very significant impacts.
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I have never heard of the TravelWise Emergency Ride Home, and (a) I work at a TravelWise workplace, and (b) use sustainable transportation methods almost exclusively. I can think of a time or two in the past where I could have used something like that (situations with kids at school), but dealt with it otherwise.
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Link to it on the main page, covers $75 for emergencies, which is a pretty decent cab fare to anywhere you could carpool/GRT/bike/walk, including picking up a sick kid, taking them to a doctor, and taking them home.
https://www.regionofwaterloo.ca/en/explo...deHome.pdf
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(11-27-2018, 10:20 AM)Coke6pk Wrote: (11-23-2018, 01:26 PM)Watdot Wrote: I thought Ontario was "open for business"?! 
Let's ask General Motors about that....
Coke
While my comment was completely political, I mean no disrespect to those who have lost their jobs. I've lost jobs and its an experience I hope to never repeat.
Why I chose to include the GM/DoFo connection, is our premier has been all about praising manufacturing jobs, and has (attempted at least) to kill jobs in the green sector.... the exact niche GM is looking to expand on. There is no guarantee that with another premier GM would re-tool Oshawa with an electric vehicle line, but DoFo's cutting of renewable credits certainly did us no favours. Trumps policies are similar.
Coke
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They were paving the northbound ramp onto 85 from Bruce when I drove by yesterday morning on my way to work. Hopefully it reopens in a day or three.
...K
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Does anyone know when the ramp from 85S to Edna is supposed to be done? Last time I drove by, I noticed the sign says that it is supposed to be closed to Nov 2018, but it didn't seem anywhere close to being ready to me.
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Drive past it every day and haven’t seen an iota of movement there. They just use it for staging equipment.
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12-11-2018, 03:15 PM
(This post was last modified: 12-11-2018, 03:40 PM by GtwoK.)
From 85S to Edna? They hadn't even started construction on that, I thought? Isn't that the extension of the 85S-Wellington exit ramp, which will pass underneath Victoria to meet up with Edna?
EDIT: Yeah, here we go. This is gonna be a while before they even start it, presumably, given Ford.
![[Image: 24HIjYz.jpg]](https://imgur.com/24HIjYz.jpg)
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It looks to me like they've started construction on it, but that they've a ways to go before it's ready. I'm not sure if it's planned to stage it so that it returns to being a ramp direct from 85, or if it will be via Wellington as shown in the ultimate configuration.
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Hm, doing the from Wellington configuration requires creating new bridges for the rail tracks, so the ramp can pass under. If they were doing that now, I'd think they'd include the other rail bridges at the same time, and I feel like we would have seen a RFQ out for it, no?
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