The community of Huntsville is still reeling after learning two weeks ago that TriMas Corp. (under the manufacturing brand name Cequent) will be closing its plant here by the end of December.

The decision by management could not have come at a worse time for Huntsville families, as company officials announced the plant will close by the end of December, and 163 jobs will be lost. According to our economic development officer, that translates into a $7.5 million impact on this area’s economy and a loss of $5.4 million in gross wages. Add to this the massive job loss at the Dura plant in Bracebridge recently, and we have had a hard-to-recover-from hit to our manufacturing sector in Muskoka.

It is great to see support coming forward to help find new tenants to take over from Cequent, and that FedNor and government ministries will help with employee transitions.

But the press releases that followed the closure announcement were reactionary and one cannot help but wonder who has really got their thumb on the pulse of local manufacturers and businesses. Why didn’t the company’s management, as they were making the decision to close operations here, consult with local leaders or at the very least give them a greater opportunity to look at ways of mitigating the effect of the closure on our community?

That’s not how large companies work, we guess.

According to reports in the Detroit Free Press, some employees from Cequent will be offered work in the company’s Indiana plant. That’s where its Huntsville operation is expected to be consolidated; however, nothing has been confirmed. It was comforting at the least to hear from Huntsville mayor Claude Doughty on Monday that he heard “anecdotally” the employee severance packages are generous.

There is no doubt that the manufacturing sector is suffering, and while it is great to see Huntsville working to diversify its economy into areas such as eco and sports tourism, this closure should be a wake-up call. These are skilled, year-round, and well-paying jobs we are about to lose. They will be difficult to replace.

We spend a lot of public dollars on tourism promotion, economic development and studies about how to retain businesses in our community. At the same time, we have a tendency to forget sometimes that Muskoka, as well as being a tourism destination, has a long industrial/ manufacturing history.

Are we doing enough to preserve and foster this sector? Are there other large employers in our community who may be facing serious problems? What are we doing to help them?

Area MP Tony Clement said he was “blind-sided” by Cequent’s decision. Mayor Doughty was made aware of the company’s pull-out the same day the vague press release was sent out.

Along with continuing the vital work of diversifying our economy let’s also identify issues faced by our corporate residents now, work with them to find solutions, put more effort into enticing new entrepreneurs, train a better workforce – and work on these goals before the proverbial horse has left the barn.

    T.d.V.