(This is old news but it only came to my attention today.)

Mattress maker Simmons Co. said yesterday it is closing its bedding factory in Brampton, Ont., immediately, the second major manufacturing plant closure announcement in less than a week in Canada's most-populous province. Simmons blamed a three-week-old strike by the Canadian Auto Workers for the move, saying the work stoppage "compromised the plant's economic viability." Roughly 150 office and production workers represented by the union will be laid off, the Atlanta-based company said. "The manufacturing sector in Ontario is having the stuffing kicked out of it," Dalton Mc-Guinty, the Ontario Premier, told reporters yesterday, calling for federal leaders to help create a regional economic development program for Southern Ontario similar to those in place in other parts of the country. So far this year, employment in Canada's manufacturing sector has declined by 14,000 positions, according to Statistics Canada's most recent labour force survey.

Simmons Lays Blame On CAW Strike In Announcing Ontario Factory Closure.