Ford Motor Company of Canada

Ford Motor Company of Canada, Limited (French: Ford du Canada Limitée) was founded on August 17, 1904, for the purpose of manufacturing and selling Ford automobiles in Canada and the British Empire. It was originally known as the Walkerville Wagon Works[1] and was located in Walkerville, Ontario (now part of Windsor, Ontario). The founder, Gordon Morton McGregor, convinced a group of investors to invest in Henry Ford's new automobile, which was being produced across the river in Detroit, Michigan.[2]

Ford Motor Company of Canada, Limited
Subsidiary
IndustryAutomotive
Founded1904
FounderGordon Morton McGregor
Headquarters
Oakville, Ontario
,
Canada
Area served
Canada, United States
Key people
Gordon Morton Gregorio
ProductsMainstream/Performance vehicles
Automotive parts
ServicesAutomotive finance, Vehicle leasing, Vehicle service
Revenuesee Ford Motor Company for details
ParentFord Motor Company
Websiteford.ca

The firm manufactures and sells automobiles in Canada, and also in the United States and other countries around the world.

History

The Ford Motor Company of Canada is a wholly owned subsidiary of Ford Motor Company,[3] although it once had its own distinct group of shareholders.[4] At its formation, Ford Motor Company was not a shareholder of Ford Canada, but its twelve founding shareholders directly held 51% of Ford Canada's shares, and Henry Ford himself owned 13% of the new company.[2] The Company had gained all Ford patent rights and selling privileges to all parts of the British Empire, except Great Britain and Ireland.[5] It eventually established and managed the following subsidiaries:[6]

  • Ford Motor Company of Southern Africa
  • Ford India Private Limited
  • Ford Motor Company of Australia
  • Ford Motor Company of New Zealand

The Model C, the first car to be produced in Canada, rolled out of the factory in late September 1904. The Company could produce two cars at a time and in its first full year of production, the Company was able to produce 117 automobiles. The Company's first export sales were to Calcutta, India. Ford is still an important manufacturing enterprise in Windsor.

With the growth in car sales after World War II, together with the acquisition of majority control by Ford Motor Company, Ford of Canada decided to move its head office and build a new assembly plant in Oakville, Ontario. The new Oakville assembly plant was opened in 1953. In order to meet ever increasing demand, the Company opened another assembly plant in Talbotville, Ontario in 1967.

Historically Ford was one of the most powerful companies in Canada, and in the 1970s, Ford was the "largest" company in Canada.[7]

By 1989, during a peak in the environmental movement, the Ford Motor Company of Canada (particularly its Oakville plant) was listed among the "dirty dozen" polluters in Ontario:

"Ford broke lots of rules with the 13.8 million litres of waste it pumped into Lake Ontario every day until a few months ago, when it began a two-stage cleaning process.

"The company used to flush out an average of 392 kilograms (875 pounds) of solids with that waste water every day. It also poured out chemicals that sucked oxygen out of the lake. Ford also had on-and-off problems with the amounts of phosphorus (the chemical largely responsible for nearly killing Lake Erie decades ago) and phenols it discharged.

"The first stage of cleaning up this mess was a $6.8-million, upgraded version of the treatment system it already had on its site. The second stage sends waste water through Halton Region's sewers, so that no water is flowing directly into the lake."[8]

Ford of Canada celebrated its Centennial in 2004, shortly after the Parent Company Ford in the United States did in 2003. That year also saw the compulsory acquisition by Ford Motor Company of the last of the shares held by minority shareholders, which had been originally proposed in 1995.[9] However, the last litigation in the matter, dealing with an oppression remedy claim by the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System with respect to its shareholdings, was only resolved by the Ontario Court of Appeal in January 2006.[10]

In 2010, Ford was embroiled in a controversy surrounding a plan to construct a massive gas-fired power plant to be operated by TransCanada on a disused 13.5-acre (55,000 m2) portion of its Oakville assembly plant. Local residents and politicians pleaded with Ford not to continue with the plan, as residents believed it would negatively impact their health and safety. The province cancelled the generating station in October 2010 and both Ford and TransCanada withdrew their planned appeals to the Ontario Municipal Board the following January.[11] The plant was one of two involved in the Ontario power plant scandal, which contributed to the resignation of Premier Dalton McGuinty and Energy Minister Chris Bentley.

Key executives

Current CEO and president of Ford Motor Company of Canada is Mark Buzzell who replaced Diane Craig effective January 1, 2017.

Before Craig, Mondragon had served as president and CEO since September 1, 2008, when he replaced Barry Engle[12] who resigned to join New Holland America as its CEO. William H. Osborne had held the position since 2005 and was replaced by Engle in February 2008.[13]

Facilities

Current
Ford Oakville plant and Ford Canada Head Office
Plant Location Employees[14] Year opened Year closed Notes
Oakville Assembly Complex Oakville, Ontario 3550 1953 Still active Also Canadian Headquarters
Windsor Engine Plant Windsor, Ontario 600 1978 Original engine plant opened in 1923 Main building closed Annex still operating with 600 employees Produces Triton V10 engines for Super Duty truck, and stripped chassis applications
Essex Engine Plant Windsor, Ontario 780 1981; re-opened late 2009 2007 Flexible engine plant, produces 5.0L V8 engine for Mustang and F-150

Former
Plant Location Year opened Year closed Notes
Windsor Casting Plant Windsor, Ontario 1934 May 30, 2007 Now Demolished
Essex Aluminum Plant Windsor, Ontario 1981 February 13, 2009 Built originally to make cylinder heads for Essex Engine Plant, later as joint venture with Alfa SA of Mexico subsidiary Nemak; once produced engines for Mustangs, E-series vans and F-series trucks
Ontario Truck Plant Oakville, Ontario 1965 2004 retooled and reopened as part of Oakville Car Plant
Walkerville Plant Windsor, Ontario 1904 1954 near 3001 Riverside Drive East - former Canadian Headquarters and main assembly operations also known as Plant 1; demolished 1969 and now abandoned lands facing the Detroit River
St. Thomas Assembly Plant Talbotville, Ontario 1968 September 2011 Only production facility for the Crown Victoria Police Interceptor for fleet orders, Grand Marquis and Lincoln Town Car for limo operators
Dupont St Assembly Plant Toronto, Ontario 1910 1927 Assembly relocated to Danforth Plant. The building (672 Dupont St) now houses Condominiums
Danforth Avenue Plant Toronto, Ontario 1922 1946 Sold to Nash Motors and then by American Motors Corporation 1954 to 1961. Converted as mall, Shoppers World Danforth.
Portage Ave Assembly Plant Winnipeg, Manitoba 1915 1941 Now known as the Robert Fletcher Building ..
Hamilton St Assembly Plant Vancouver, British Columbia 1919 1938 Production moved to Burnaby plant in 1938
Burnaby Assembly Plant Burnaby, British Columbia 1938 196? Building demolished in 1988 to build Station Square
Montreal Assembly Plant Montreal, Quebec Unknown Unknown

Vehicles produced

The Ford Edge and Lincoln MKX are currently manufactured in Oakville.

Ford Canada has also produced the following models over the years:

ModelOakvilleSt. ThomasWalkerville
Canadian Military Pattern truck (World War II)Y
Ford Crown Victoria[15]Y
Ford EconolineY
Ford F-150Y
Ford FairmontY
Ford FalconY
Ford FreestarY
Ford SVT Lightning (2nd Generation)Y
Ford MaverickY
Ford Model A (1927–31)Y
Ford Model CY
Ford Model KY
Ford Model NY
Ford Model TY
Ford Pinto/Mercury BobcatY
Ford Tempo/Mercury TopazY
Ford TorinoY
Ford WindstarY
FrontenacY
Lincoln Town Car[16]Y
Mercury Grand MarquisY
Mercury Marauder[17]Y
Mercury MeteorYY
Mercury MonarchY
Mercury Monterey (Minivan)Y
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gollark: It's a lunar eclipse. They're not that rare.

References
  1. Anastakis 2004, p. 218.
  2. Anastakis 2004, p. 219.
  3. Government of Canada, Innovation. "Archived — Automotive Innovation Fund Investment Announcement—Ford Motor Company of Canada". www.ic.gc.ca. Retrieved 2020-05-04.
  4. Anastakis 2004, p. 213.
  5. Anastakis 2004, pp. 223–224.
  6. Anastakis 2004, p. 221.
  7. "The Top 200: Canada's Largest Companies (c 1973-74)". Archived from the original on February 23, 2008. Retrieved 2008-04-08.
  8. Tom Spears (March 11, 1989). "The Dirty Dozen". The Toronto Star. p. D1 and D5.
  9. "FORD OF CANADA BOARD OF DIRECTORS UNANIMOUSLY APPROVES BUYOUT OF SHAREHOLDERS AT (CDN) $185 PER SHARE". thefreelibrary.com. 1995-07-05. Retrieved 2012-06-28.
  10. Ford Motor Company of Canada, Ltd. v. Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement Board 2006 CanLII 15, 79 OR (3d) 81 (6 January 2006), Court of Appeal (Ontario, Canada); leave to appeal dismissed with costs, Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement Board and the Persons set out in Schedule "B" v. Ford Motor Company of Canada Limited, Ford Motor Company 2006 CanLII 29064 (24 August 2006), Supreme Court (Canada)
  11. "Proposed TransCanada Power Plant – Cancelled by the Province". Town of Oakville. 2014. Retrieved 2015-06-05.
  12. "General News » Ford of Canada names new president". CanadianDriver. 2008-09-01. Retrieved 2009-09-23.
  13. "Barry Engle, the new President of Ford Motor Company of Canada (video) - Car News | Page 1". Auto123. Retrieved 2009-09-23.
  14. "Facilities | Ford Motor Company Newsroom". Media.ford.com. Archived from the original on 2012-07-10. Retrieved 2009-09-23.
  15. Includes livery and Police Interceptor models
  16. MY2008 to MY2011
  17. MY2003 to MY2004

Further reading
  • Austen, Ian (October 11, 2016). "Ford Reaches Tentative Deal With Union in Canada". The New York Times. Retrieved July 31, 2017.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Anastakis, Dimitry (2004). "From Independence to Integration: The Corporate Evolution of the Ford Motor Company of Canada, 1904-2004". The Business History Review. 78 (2): 213–253. JSTOR 25096866.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Mays, James C. (2003). Ford and Canada : 100 years together. Montreal: Syam Publishing. ISBN 0-97338120-5.
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