TORONTO — The Globe and Mail reports the Ford Motor Company wants the federal and Ontario governments to kick in 60 (m) million dollars to help reopen a shuttered engine plant in Windsor, Ontario.
The Globe quotes an industry source saying the project won't go ahead without Ottawa.
The source says Ontario has already agreed to come up with its 30-(m)-million-dollar share.
The previous Liberal federal government gave several hundred (m) million dollars to secure new investments in Ontario by Ford, General Motors, Toyota and others but this is believed to be the first request Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government has received.
Industry sources say Ford has proposed assembling a new V-8 engine at its Essex Engine Plant.
The plant closed in November after operating since 1981.
Joe Hinrichs, group vice-president of global manufacturing for Ford, would not comment on the plan when asked about it earlier this week.
Canadian Auto Workers union president Buzz Hargrove said government support for new products and jobs is essential, after he and the presidents of Ford, Chrysler Canada Inc. and General Motors of Canada Ltd. met with Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty.
''If there's an opportunity to get a $1-billion investment around the world, the standard is that governments put in 20 per cent of that,'' Hargrove said.
Hargrove said the $1-billion fund Harper announced Thursday to help one-industry towns is not sufficient
