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Canada’s Automotive Industry: Recession, Restructuring, and Future Prospects

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New Frontiers of the Automobile Industry

Abstract

After several decades of growth, Canada’s automotive industry reached peak levels of production and employment in 1999. The growth of the automotive industry in Canada was the result of innovative trade policies, labor cost, and productivity advantages vis-à-vis the US, and favorable currency exchange rates. However, these competitive advantages diminished, production and employment contracted, and Canada’s automotive industry underwent significant restructuring.

This chapter examines the restructuring of Canada’s automotive industry in the twenty-first century in the context of Canada’s shifting role in the global automotive industry. More specifically, the chapter examines changes in the industry structure, international trade, employment relations, and public policies implemented by the governments to support the industry. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the future prospects for Canada’s automotive industry.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Labour Studies, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada

    Brendan Sweeney

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  1. Brendan Sweeney
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Correspondence to Brendan Sweeney .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. College of Sonora, Hermosillo, Mexico

    Alex Covarrubias V.

  2. Max Planck Institute, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

    Sigfrido M. Ramírez Perez

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Sweeney, B. (2020). Canada’s Automotive Industry: Recession, Restructuring, and Future Prospects. In: Covarrubias V., A., Ramírez Perez, S.M. (eds) New Frontiers of the Automobile Industry. Palgrave Studies of Internationalization in Emerging Markets. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18881-8_3

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