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GTA East

On Greater Toronto's eastern side is the lower portion of the Durham region, including such markets as Pickering, Oshawa, Ajax, Whitby and Clarington. The big news in this region, as is with much of southern Ontario, is the automotive industry.

Automotive-related firms not only have operations in the area, but in many of the towns, they are the largest private-sector employers. In Oshawa, for example, General Motors of Canada Limited employs some 13,650 workers at its Canadian headquarters operation. Oshawa is also home to Peregrine Canada Ltd., Mackie Automotive Systems, A.G. Simpson Automotive Systems, PPG Canada and Gen-Auto Shippers, just to name a few.

Ajax and Pickering, also have several automotive-related industries. Ajax has such names as DaimlerChrysler Canada Inc., Lear Canada, DuPont Canada and Volkswagen Canada. Pickering, on the other hand, supports many supply chain companies like Paintplas, Rider's GM Canada account and Canadian Tire Corp.

The region continues to garner much success from the auto industries. In the latter half of 1999, General Motors of Canada invested C$575 million in its Oshawa facility, which produces Monte Carlos and Impala coupes, as part of a C$1.1 billion investment package it announced for its Ontario plants. GM is investment will provide upgrades to the facility and will improve productivity.

GM showed further confidence in the Oshawa market with a $20 million investment to build a new Regional Engineering Center. The project will double the company's existing engineering space to 100,000 sq. ft . (9,290 sq. m.), and it will have full-scale vehicle design and development capabilities. With this announcement, GM will create 150 new engineering and 10 skilled trade workers jobs.

But automotive is not all that's happening in GTA East. As GM's investment shows, the market provides good access to highly skilled workers, and like much of Toronto the high-tech industries are taking note. In 1998, Nokia expanded its operations in Ajax by 10,000 sq. ft. (929 sq. m.), and it has recently broken ground again for another expansion.