So how do you all feel about your new ownership position in GM? Stephen Harper refers to it as ‘regrettable but necessary‘.
The federal and Ontario governments’ contribution to the restructuring is set at $9.5 billion U.S., according to a joint statement Monday from the prime minister and U.S. President Barack Obama. For that, Canadian taxpayers will hold a 12 per cent equity stake and will also appoint one independent director to the company’s board.
Canadians could remain holders of that equity as long as 2018, with sales of the shares expected to occur within eight years of a stock offering in the new company.
One of the more interesting aspects of this saga for me is seeing how people think about stocks and money. As I’ve said before I’m not a financial expert, but I know that buying up the ‘cheap’ shares of a company that is headed towards bankruptcy is a risky bet. Browsing the Google finance message board it looks like this is not necessarily common knowledge.
The GM restructuring is already wreaking havoc on the real estate markets of some industry towns in Canada, but what about the larger implications? How will this move help or hinder the Canadian economy at large, and what sort of impact will we see here in the lower mainland?
