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Toronto city council to consider ban on General Motors vehicles

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Toronto city council considering ban on General Motors vehicles
With GM standing firm on its decision to close its Oshawa plant, Toronto city council will consider a ban on GM vehicles at its meeting next week. Matthew Bingley reports – Feb 22, 2019

A stroll through the parking garage below Toronto city hall reveals a small sample of the vehicles the City has in its fleet, including those some councillors would like to see less of.

With General Motors holding firm on its decision to close its Oshawa plant, a members motion will be presented at council next week to hold it to account. Coun. Mike Layton proposed the City of Toronto boycott GM products built in Mexico going forward.

“You know what, our purchasing power as a city is worth something,” said Layton.

According to his motion, the City owns more than 5,500 vehicles in its fleet. Of those, 372 are produced by GM.

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“It’s not a lot of vehicles,” said Layton.

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“But maybe this is just drawing enough attention to the issue that they think twice, or another company thinks twice, before they try to make that same decision.”

Fellow Coun. Jim Karygiannis said he is hoping other municipalities will consider doing the same.

“So General Motors gets a clear message, not only from the governments of Canada, the different levels of government, but from Canadians,” said Karygiannis.

The final say on whether the City decides to go through with the boycott will be debated at council next week.

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