GM is now 'a technology company,' Dilkens hears at Auto Mayors caucus

As General Motors pivots towards becoming a "technology company," Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens looks for the company to be a part of the city's future.

He was at the Auto Mayors caucus, where he heard from the vice president of GM about the company's new direction.

"They outright said that GM doesn't see themselves anymore as an automobile company, they see themselves as a technology company," he said.

The vision of the future he heard from GM was "zero collisions, zero congestion and it was zero emissions," he said.

GM made an announcement last year in November that it was going to close the Oshawa assembly plant, which would put thousands out of a job.

Unifor had been fighting hard to keep those jobs. It had launched a social media campaign against the company and had held several rallies to protest the plant closure.

Last week, the national president of Unifor said there had been some productive talks with GM to maintain some jobs, and the campaign had been suspended.

GM's move to cease production in not only the Oshawa plant, but also four others in the U.S., had been met with major public criticism.

However, Dilkens said the tone of the caucus meeting was actually quite positive.

"The future's actually really exciting," he said.

With GM pivoting, the same might happen with Fiat-Chrysler and Ford in the future, according to Dilkens, and he said there are opportunities for Windsor.

"We have to figure out how we can fit into that," he said.