Automakers with operations in Ontario have cancelled shifts due to blizzard conditions in the province's southwest that have choked off the delivery of parts.
Honda and General Motors plants in the Sarnia-to-London snow belt have sent workers home due to the weather that is delaying shipments of parts from Michigan and elsewhere in Ontario.
One border crossing was closed due to the weather and traffic was diverted to the Ambassador Bridge that connects Windsor and Detroit.
In Sarnia, Ont., Mayor Mike Bradley said Tuesday that "American truck traffic has been stopped for the last 12 hours from entering Canada."
Some 300 people were thought to be stranded on Highway 402 when drifting snow and zero visibility left hundreds with no option Monday but to hunker down in their vehicles. By late Tuesday afternoon 237 people had been rescued from vehicles that had to be left abandoned on the highway.
GM spokesman Tony LaRocca said employees at the auto maker's Oshawa assembly plant were sent home during the day shift and the night shift had also been cancelled.
Shifts were also cancelled at its CAMI plant in Ingersoll for a second day in a row. The plant employs 2,700 people.
Its plant in St. Catharines has not been affected.
GM officials were uncertain how long the weather-related work stoppage will continue.
"We build a lot of cars daily, so any time you have a stoppage like that, it's urgent," LaRocca said.
"Whenever you hear about roads being closed and people being stuck on them overnight, you know you're in for a pretty serious storm, so it's an exception to the rule but yes, it does happen."
The parts shortage also halted operations at a Honda plant in Alliston, but a spokesman for the company said he expected shifts to resume early Wednesday.
Reports said Ford's operations had also been impacted by the storm but a company spokesman was not available for comment.
A spokeswoman at Chrysler said production at its plants had not yet been affected by the storm but that the company was monitoring the situation.
