TORONTO - The federal and Ontario governments will sell 20 per cent of their stake -- up to 30 million of their shares -- in General Motors, Ontario's finance minister said late Wednesday.

Ontario's portion is one-third of those shares, which are expected to fetch between $26 and $29 each in an initial public offering expected later this month, said Finance Minister Dwight Duncan.

GM announced the price range in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. It has also split its shares three-for-one in advance of the IPO.

Ottawa and Ontario will have roughly 140,000 shares left after the IPO, provincial officials said.

It's too soon to say how much money both governments will make from the sale, Duncan said. But even if Canadians don't recoup all the cash they sunk into GM, it's still a good investment because it helped save the economy.

"Our objective was to keep employment and investment here in Ontario," he said.

"We've been successful at that. General Motors will continue to employ people here, pay taxes here -- as will their employees -- and so there will be a long-term gain to the taxpayers, in my view."

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said Tuesday he doesn't regret sinking billions into saving GM, even if the government doesn't get all its money back.

Flaherty, like Duncan, pointed out that the bailout saved the industry and thousands of jobs.

Opposition finance critic Norm Miller acknowledged that the 2008 bailout was a "tough call" for both governments. But he's not confident that Ontario will get its money back.

"We're watching closely to make sure Ontario taxpayers get the best return for their investment in GM or Chrysler," he said.

"I hope their initial public offering is successful and that both Canadian and Ontario government are able to reduce their ownership in General Motors."

General Motors and its Canadian subsidiary were nearly felled last year by the economic downturn, which compounded years of losses at the automaker.

It survived by filing for bankruptcy protection in the United States and restructuring its operations with the help of billions of dollars in aid from governments both in Canada and the United States.

Ottawa took an eight per cent stake in the automaker and Ontario took another four per cent after they together lent it C$10.5 billion.

About $9 billion of that loan was converted to equity when the so-called "new GM" emerged from bankruptcy protection, while the rest has been paid back.

GM's court-approved restructuring left Canada and Ontario with a collective 11.7 per cent stake in the company, which both governments have said they will eventually sell.

Sagging demand for larger, gas-guzzling vehicles hit General Motors particularly hard, costing thousands of jobs across North America.

GM Canada shed about 2,600 jobs with the closure of a truck plant in Oshawa last year. It also shut down a transmission plant in the southwestern Ontario city of Windsor this year, affecting more than 1,000 workers.

GM Canada currently employs more than 9,000 people at two assembly plants and two parts plants in southern Ontario.