President-elect Barack Obama's advisers are signaling that the Detroit Three automakers need to outline how they will retool their business model if they want to receive federal assistance from his administration.

Obama has previously said that he supports helping the industry, but does not support writing a "blank cheque" for Chrysler, Ford and General Motors. The companies have asked for at least US$25 billion.

Two of Obama's advisors made statements this weekend that suggested the ailing automakers need to be very clear about the way they intend to keep themselves in the black going forward, if they are to receive federal assistance.

Former U.S. secretary of labour Robert Reich appeared on CTV's Question Period on Sunday and talked about the ongoing debate in the U.S. Congress over whether to bail out the North American auto industry, and how such a bailout would have to work.

Reich, who is now serving as an economic adviser to the president-elect, said in an interview from Berkeley, Calif., that there is "an emerging consensus on this side of the border that the automobile industry does need help."

He also said it is clear that any assistance given to automakers won't come without sacrifices. Everyone from creditors, to executives, to autoworkers, will have to make concessions.

"Every stakeholder is going to have to give up something," Reich said.

The entire industry needs an overhaul, he added, and must become more competitive.

Reich said there "are very few people in Congress"-- as well as very few people in the incoming Obama administration -- who want to see the North American automakers go under.

But they all want to provide assistance that gets the job done, that provides more than just a temporary fix.

"The real question is how to rescue them in such a way that American taxpayers don't get left holding any part of the bill and the rescue really takes," Reich said.

In an interview aired on Sunday, David Axelrod said Obama feels Congress has acted correctly in requiring that automotive executives explain how they will reorganize their business, before they are offered a bailout.

"We all have a stake in the survival and the prosperity of the auto industry. Millions of jobs depend on that," Axelrod said on ABC's This Week.

"But in order to do that, they're going to have to retool and rationalize their industry for the future. And if they don't do that, then there's very little that taxpayers can do to help them."

North of the border

Federal Industry Minister Tony Clement and Ontario Economic Development Minister Michael Bryant met with auto executives in Detroit and Washington last week, as part of a fact-finding mission about how best to deal with the crisis in the auto sector.

At the end of the trip, Clement's comments echoed those made by Obama's advisers on Sunday.

"We came here to Washington to get an accurate picture of the situation and to see what automakers and our American counterparts are proposing for the industry," Clement said Thursday.

"The companies and the unions need to come up with a plan for the industry's long-term success ... no one wants to be back to where we are today one year from now."

Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said Sunday that there would be no help for the auto industry included in the federal government's upcoming fiscal update, which is set for Thursday.

"It's going to be an update, as it's supposed to be," Flaherty said, of the update, on CTV's Question Period.

"We will outline where we are, what the best estimates are where we're going to be, and then we'll get on with the business of preparing the actual budget, which will be delivered early next year."