Taxpayer-Funded EV Scheme IMPLODES—Jobs Vanish Overnight

Another American company town faces devastation as General Motors abandons its EV promises, leaving Canadian workers to pick up the pieces of yet another green energy boondoggle that never delivered on its lofty job creation claims.

Story Snapshot

St. Thomas, Ontario faces renewed economic uncertainty as GM scales back BrightDrop EV operations, echoing Ford’s devastating 2011 plant closure that eliminated 1,590 direct jobs
The historic automotive town has cycled through railway decline, traditional manufacturing, and now unreliable EV investments that prioritize government subsidies over sustainable employment
Workers in this single-industry community have witnessed repeated corporate abandonments, with BrightDrop representing the latest broken promise in the forced EV transition
Despite billions in taxpayer-funded incentives for EV projects like Volkswagen’s PowerCo gigafactory, the region remains vulnerable to market shifts and corporate cost-cutting decisions

Corporate Promises Leave Workers Behind Again

St. Thomas, Ontario exemplifies the forgotten workers crushed by corporate America’s EV pivot. The town built its identity on automotive manufacturing since Ford opened its Talbotville assembly plant in 1967, employing 1,590 workers directly and generating seven times that number in regional spin-off jobs. When Ford shuttered the facility in 2011 amid recession pressures, the community lost its economic anchor, leaving families devastated and a 2.6 million square foot plant demolished by 2015. Now, GM’s retreat from BrightDrop production threatens to repeat this painful cycle, proving that green energy transitions prioritize political agendas over working families.

Pattern of Abandonment Spans Decades

St. Thomas has endured serial economic disruptions since railways declined in the 1930s, forcing diversification into automotive parts for Detroit through companies like Timken Roller Bearing and Weatherhead. The 1965 Canada-U.S. Auto Pact catalyzed Ford’s investment, producing iconic vehicles from the Falcon to the final Mercury Grand Marquis. Yet this prosperity proved fragile—Sterling Trucks closed in 2008, Ford followed in 2011, and now BrightDrop’s national cutbacks post-2023 UAW strikes signal another retreat. Each closure strips away community identity and financial stability, exposing the lie that government-subsidized EV mandates create durable employment. Workers deserve industries built on market demand, not political virtue signaling.

Government Subsidies Cannot Replace Free Markets

Provincial and federal governments poured incentives into Ontario’s EV transformation, announcing Volkswagen’s PowerCo gigafactory for St. Thomas in March 2023 and celebrating GM’s Ingersoll EV plant in December 2022. These taxpayer-funded projects promise jobs but ignore fundamental flaws: EVs lack consumer demand without mandates, and automakers chase subsidies rather than sustainable business models. The 2011 Ford closure left failed land sales and stalled growth, demonstrating that government intervention cannot substitute for economic fundamentals. St. Thomas officials promote megasites and green tech repurposing at Yarmouth Yards, yet power dynamics favor corporate executives and distant bureaucrats who dictate closures without accountability to displaced workers or their communities.

Economic Vulnerability Mirrors National Concerns

St. Thomas’s struggles reflect broader consequences of forcing EV adoption before markets support it. The Ford shutdown caused immediate job losses totaling 1,590 positions plus indirect employment, dragging regional GDP and morale. BrightDrop’s absence delays recovery in an auto-dependent area already strained by unemployment. Long-term, PowerCo’s gigafactory could replicate Ford’s multiplier effect, but history warns against optimism—recession precedents and supply chain vulnerabilities plague North America’s automotive sector. Local historian Steve Peters notes the town “repeatedly adapts,” yet resilience should not excuse policies that necessitate constant reinvention. Communities need stable industries rooted in consumer choice and limited government interference, not cycles of subsidized booms followed by predictable busts that erode faith in economic institutions.

The forced march toward electrification ignores lessons from towns like St. Thomas, where workers pay the price for elite climate priorities disconnected from market realities and family livelihoods. Real economic growth stems from innovation driven by competition and consumer preference, not government mandates that enrich corporations through subsidies while leaving communities perpetually vulnerable to the next policy shift or executive decision. St. Thomas deserves better than becoming a cautionary tale for green energy’s empty promises.