OTTAWA - Canada's 3,500 car dealers are asking the federal government to take aggressive measures to help the ailing automobile industry.
Richard Gauthier, president and CEO of the Canadian Automobile Dealers Association says car dealers alone employ more than 140,000 people and the auto industry overall accounts for one in seven Canadian jobs.
He warns that dealers will bear the brunt of the current downturn in the auto manufacturing industry and that will have a ripple effect on every Canadian community.
He says dealers are having problems financing their inventories and he's urging Ottawa to take `immediate creative measures' to restore liquidity to the auto marketplace.
He also wants Stephen Harper's Conservative government to send banks a strong message that they must support `small, sound' businesses.
Gauthier also has a message for consumers: With prices at their lowest levels in years, it's `a very good time' to buy a car.
