The hits just keep coming. This week, struggling General Motors Corp. stunned the city by announcing it would close its 45-year-old transmission plant in two years. The move will eliminate 1,400 jobs and affect thousands of other workers who rely on the plant for business.

Canada's auto industry began here a century ago and expanded into a huge parts sector with numerous high-end tool, die and moulding companies.

It weathered the industry's ups and downs over the decades and always came back stronger than ever. Windsor became an industry powerhouse.

But everyone agrees that this time, Windsor's decline is different. Despite a big agricultural sector, the establishment of a local entertainment industry and more attention to auto research, the city is busting like never before.

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