TORONTO - Time may be quickly running out to help Canada's struggling auto sector and Prime Minister Stephen Harper must keep working with Ontario on an aid package despite the political upheaval on Parliament Hill, Premier Dalton McGuinty said Wednesday.
Harper was expected to ask the Governor General to end the session of Parliament that began just 10 days ago rather than face a non-confidence vote from the Liberal-NDP coalition that is trying to topple his minority government.
McGuinty said he hoped Harper would still have the power to make a financial commitment to help the struggling auto industry, whether the prime minister prorogues Parliament or not.
"I don't know if it means that he no longer has the authority to deal with this kind of an issue," McGuinty told reporters. "I think there are some cases where you can in fact make some financial commitments and then when the House resumes sitting . . . you can have that confirmed."
With Chrysler warning the U.S. Congress on Tuesday that it needed $7 billion by year's end just to stay afloat, McGuinty said he was "eager to have things resolved on Parliament Hill sooner rather than later" to protect 400,000 auto sector jobs in Ontario.
"What they're talking about now is funding to address liquidity issues. We can't do liquidity. That's a federal responsibility," he said.
"There are some things that just can't wait, and I'm afraid the auto sector may be firmly in that camp."
Executives from the Detroit 3 have told Washington they need $34 billion, up from the original request of $25 billion, to survive the current economic storm, a big increase in a short time which had McGuinty concerned.
"You've got to wonder why the disparity," said McGuinty. "That's the ask that's been put forward by the Americans. We look forward to receiving the request from Canadians."
Ontario Economic Development Minister Michael Bryant said the provincial-federal team working on the auto package would be looking at the new figures provided by the U.S. automakers with "skepticism" while he awaits the Canadian industry's figures later this week.
"There have been different numbers and different signals provided by the industry when it comes to the timing of insolvency," said Bryant.
"Obviously we have to take these numbers very seriously, but we also have to scrutinize these numbers because they are speculative projections about insolvency. We don't want to find ourselves in a high risk position, but we also want to look very closely at what terms ought to be attached."
Bryant said he was staying in close touch with the office of U.S. Speaker Nancy Pelosi to make sure Canada would be prepared to react quickly to whatever package is developed for the Detroit 3, but admitted Ontario had to develop its own backup plan because of the political uncertainty in Ottawa.
"We obviously need to have contingency plans in place in the event that we have a situation in Parliament that is dysfunctional," said Bryant.
"Under the current circumstances we have to have contingency plans in place, and we do."
He declined to say what those plans were.
Ontario Finance Minister Dwight Duncan appealed to federal politicians to quickly settle their differences, warning that Canada must be ready to act quickly to help the auto sector.
"I'm enormously concerned about that, about the impact on our ability to respond in a timely fashion on the auto sector situation," said Duncan.
"I would suggest to all the federal politicians: think about the auto workers."
The province's Progressive Conservatives had only one requirement for the auto package -- that it protect any taxpayers' investments and guarantee jobs will be protected.
"What we have to do now is ensure that... any deal that would be reached with the Big 3 is in the best interests of taxpayers and is going to ensure the preservation of jobs in this province," said Opposition Leader Bob Runciman.
