Ford announces it will cut 450 jobs in Canada

[MONTREAL] US automaker Ford said on Monday it would lay off about 450 employees in Canada as it ends production of two vehicles currently assembled there.

This month, Ford stopped making the Lincoln MKT at its Oakville assembly plant west of Toronto, and will discontinue the Ford Flex SUV by the end of November, a company spokeswoman told AFP.

The decision is a result of "shifting consumer demands," said the spokeswoman, Kelli Felker.

The job cuts come on top of 200 already announced in July for the Oakville plant, which currently has 4,100 workers.

The Canadian union representing the workers, Unifor, said the layoffs would begin in early February.

Unifor's president Jerry Dias called on Ford to move production of another vehicle to Oakville "to prevent permanent job loss."

Felker said Ford was "replacing 75 per cent of our vehicle lineup and will have the freshest line-up by the end of 2020, expanding our truck and utility line-up with new models."

The announcement is another difficult blow for the auto industry in Canada's Ontario province where, in the past year, Chrysler and General Motors have announced nearly 4,000 layoffs.

AFP