GM Invests in R&D in Canada

General Motors Co. is spending C$850 million (US$836 million) in Canada for research of lightweight materials, software and communications.

GM says the investment, which began in 2009, will continue through 2016. Most of the funds will go to an R&D center in Oshawa, Ont., which has doubled its staff to 275 in the past three years.

The investment is one of the conditions of the US$9.5 billion in bailout financing the governments of Canada and Ontario gave the company in 2009. Those governments still own about a 9% stake in GM.