Canada Pledges $3.3B Aid for Automakers

(NEWSER) - The collapse of Detroit has turned its Canadian counterpart into a veritable ghost town, the Economist reports. Located just across the Detroit River in Ontario, Windsor depends heavily on the Big Three, and now claims Canada’s highest unemployment rate at 14.4%. But Ontario’s problems go beyond “Detroit North”—tight post-9/11 border security and a high Canadian dollar have strangled cross-border trade, and the recession has killed demand for raw materials. More»

Ex-Prez Bush says bailout his idea, and a good one

(NEWSER) - Three years ago, Mitt Romney wrote that President Obama should " Let Detroit Go Bankrupt ," instead of bailing out the struggling auto industry, in a famous New York Times column. And today? Even with the American auto industry on the rebound, Michigan's GOP primary looming on Feb. 28, and Rick Santorum breathing down his neck in the polls , Romney still thinks bankruptcy would have been better than the president's "crony capitalism," he writes in the Detroit News . "I believe that without his intervention things there would be better," he writes. More»

Maybe he was just going to get a Band-Aid?

(NEWSER) - Try explaining this one to the cops: Ontario police stopped a blood-soaked man riding his bike into town carrying an ax. On the plus side, the blood was his own and there were no victims, reports the Peterborough Examiner . The suspect, Lawrence Carnrite, 41, is well-known among local police, and has a hefty criminal record—now he can add a charge of possession of a dangerous weapon to it. There's also an incident involving a crowbar, which Carnrite claims was self-defense. More»

Some Republicans were ready to let GM, Chrysler die: Jonathan Cohn

(NEWSER) - Barack Obama reportedly plans to make the auto bailout a key part of his reelection campaign, and Jonathan Cohn of the New Republic thinks that’s a great idea. Chrysler and GM are in much better shape, he argues—GM in particular is “reporting big profits, it is winning design awards, and, most important of all, it is selling lots of cars.” More importantly, employment is creeping higher in states like Michigan with a heavy auto industry presence. More»

NDP now official opposition as Liberals, BQ stumble

(NEWSER) - After 7 years and four elections, Stephen Harper has led the Conservative Party to a majority government in Canada, according to preliminary results. The prime minister, who has led minority governments since 2006, won a majority of seats in Parliament and a broader mandate for his party after an election that radically reshaped Canada's political landscape, the Globe and Mail reports. More»