The entertainer Sting thinks that the shutdown of a GM plant threatens an historically great North American industrial city in the same way that the closure of shipbuilding facilities in Newcastle had impact on that city's future. He's right - the auto plant shutdown won't halt the region's economic growth and diversification any more than the end of the local shipbuilding industry permanently undermined Newcastle. Both cities are thriving - and will likely continue to for a long while.
Sting is today bringing to the long-time Canadian auto capital of Oshawa the Toronto production of The Last Ship, his musical about the economic turmoil that followed the collapse of Newcastle's long-time shipbuilding industry when the former Police frontman was growing up.
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