OTTAWA (CP) -- The country's largest manufacturing group says Canadian industry needs immediate emergency help to avert a catastrophe in the next six months to a year.
Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters president Jayson Myers says he will ask the ministers of finance and industry after Thursday's cabinet shuffle for an emergency meeting to address the short-term needs of the sector.
Myers says Canadian exporters are being squeezed by tight credit conditions in money markets and a plunge in stock prices due to the economic slowdown.
He says many producers need short-term assistance to get them through the next six-to-12 months after which conditions are expected to improve.
The appeal comes a day after Canada's auto-parts makers said the industry requires up to $1 billion in short-term loans to help them survive the credit crisis.
Myers says the auto sector is not the only part of the industrial economy that needs rescuing. He says any manufacturer selling into the U.S. markets dealing with autos, housing, industrial equipment, or general consumer items is in danger of perishing in the next six months.
