Prime Minister Stephen Harper promised that millions in funding for a Ford Motor Company flexible engine assembly plant and research centre in Windsor, Ont. will create or sustain up to 757 jobs.

The "repayable contribution" from the federal government will be up to $80 million over five years.

It is expected Ford and other partners could spend up to $730 million over the next four years.

Harper was joined Wednesday by Industry Minister Jim Prentice at the Ford Motor Co.'s currently-closed Essex, Ont. plant for the announcement which came one day after John Deere said it was closing its plant in Welland, Ont., putting 800 people out of work.

The funding promise came on the eve of an expected election call but Harper denied that it, and a series of other funding announcements, had anything to do with an election campaign.

There were also reports that the feds were planning to announce funding for the GM plant in St. Catharines, Ont.

"As the government our job is to set the conditions for the private sector to succeed," Prentice said in Windsor.

Ontario's manufacturing industry is reeling in response to the struggling U.S. economy as well as a consumer shift away from gas-guzzling vehicles towards more fuel-efficient cars.

Nationally, 88,000 manufacturing jobs have been lost in the past year.

Canadian Auto Workers Union president Buzz Hargrove reacted angrily to news of the bailout, saying it was nothing more than a pre-election dole-out designed to try and attract votes.

He said he was "furious" over the timing and suggested Harper and his government have ignored the manufacturing sector but "now they're calling an election and all of a sudden they want to be seen to be doing something."

"One can't help but be cynical," Hargrove added, "but we'll take anything we can get right now to save one job."

The Liberals also lashed out at the Tories saying the move was "too little, too late."

"This Conservative government did nothing in two and a half years to help the auto sector reinvest in capital and innovation," said a Liberal Party press release.

"...Investing at the eleventh hour, after a plant has announced it will close, is just not good enough for the Canadian people."

The statement says the Conservatives are only making the announcement to shore up support in a vulnerable riding.

However, Windsor Mayor Eddie Francis greeted the announcement with optimism.

"Call it whatever you want," Francis said. "This is a plant that's re-opening and if people want to call that politics, that's fine."

Liberal Leader Stephane Dion has been doing his own pre-writ campaigning. He was expected on Wednesday to announce provisions in his "Green Shift" carbon tax plan that would lessen the impact on some industries.

With files from The Canadian Press