Town of Kapuskasing rocked by closure of GM's cold weather testing facility

It's a huge shock for workers at the General Motors cold weather testing facility in Kapuskasing, and to the people of the town. The automaker is shutting down its facility in the northern Ontario community of 8,000 and ceasing all operations there.

"GM will begin winding down operations at Kapuskasing Proving Grounds, which has made significant contributions to GM's North American cold weather testing for over 50 years," reads a statement from the company. 

"Our testing and validation processes prioritize continuous improvement, and we have evolved our testing capability to validate our technology at the component, system, and vehicle level."

A company e-mail obtained by the CBC says that "GM has made the tough strategic decision to cease operations at the Kapuskasing Proving Grounds effective October 18th, 2024. This decision is part of a larger strategic initiative and will impact all staff at this location. Eventually, all assets and property will be disposed of."

The statement goes on to say that GM will be working with the UNIFOR union in the coming days to determine the details of a closure package for all staff affected.

"It's a very sad day," said longtime employee Frank Siebert.

"It leaves me in limbo. You know, you have a job and even though it's seasonal, you're still expecting that you can have plans. The short notice doesn't make it easy as far as I'm concerned, but some of the employees are a lot worse off than I am, and those are the ones that I'm most sad for. The people, the drivers that were there, and even the full-time management positions that were there. People with young families."

Sieibert told CBC Radio in an interview that this will also affect the economy of Kapuskasing.

"GM is as a whole is a pretty big entity for a small community like ours. We've had engineers visiting our sites for the past years, and they fill up the hotels and the restaurants and stuff like that. So it's a big impact on everything," he said.

The mayor of Kapuskasing, Dave Plourde, is also feeling pretty puzzled. He said he learned the news a few days earlier than the employees did.

"I mean, the first thing that goes to your mind is 'Is this a temporary closure? Is this something that, we can we can work on? Is there a way that the municipality could assist to make sure that it doesn't happen?'" said Plourde.

"But it was indicated to me that it was a permanent closure and that after 50 years they'd be be closing their doors here in Kapuskasing."

"They said that what they do here in Kapuskasing is something that they can now do just going anywhere, and that they were going to be closing. It was just that simple. There was no avenue for me  to be able to negotiate anything different. It was already decided."

Plourde says one reason he is surprised by the decision is there was a lot of investment put into the GM facility in the last year and a half. He estimates the taxes paid to the town every year by GM would be about $100,000.

"It has a huge impact not only by way of collecting taxes, but also for anybody that serviced the industry. I mean, there are 25 employees that work at the facility, but there's a whole bunch of spin-off jobs that come from there as well. There are a lot of local businesses that supply the GM cold weather facility in Kapuskasing," he said. 

Plourde says he wonders if there was anything more he could have done as mayor, or the town could have done to prevent this closure. But he says there were no warning signs.

"It was looking as though things were going along as usual, so there was really nothing that we could have predicted," he said. 

"To look back and say that there was something that we could have done differently, I just don't see it. I think that we're all surprised, including employees. It's just a sad day."