Just like the U.S. government, the Canadian government has sold its shares of Chrysler stock to Fiat, at a loss.
Canada bailed out Chrysler’s operations in Canada, and it cost the Canadian taxpayers $810 million.
Canadian autoworkers union officials say their government should have held on to the stock a little longer, as a way of making sure Chrysler/Fiat doesn’t shut down the Canadian operations: “We’ve advocated all along for the Ontario and Canadian governments to retain those shares as leverage, to retain investment in Canada, but that decision wasn’t made and now we have to trust that Chrysler and Fiat will recognize the incredible contributions Canadian workers, and Canadian plants, have made in the turnaround of this company.”-Ken Lewenza, union rep