Top General Motors Corp. executives in Detroit are mulling the company's fate, and the Canadian Auto Workers are worried that GM's future might not include Canada.

"If we choose not to be part of the solution, there's a very real possibility that GM could take our vehicles out of Canada and move them to the United States or another country," Chris Buckley, president of Local 222 in Oshawa, told CTV Toronto on Tuesday.

He pleaded for GM to speak with him about ways to keep the Canadian plants open.

A full GM pullout would result in 12,000 high-paying jobs disappearing. However, up to 80,000 jobs could disappear when one counts how many jobs are supported by auto assembly plants.

"They are very concerned that one of the Big Three will no longer be in Ontario," NDP Leader Howard Hampton said, referring to Ford and Chrysler as well.

Ontario's Premier Dalton McGuinty said there is a strong business case for GM to remain in this country, not least of which is the billions in financial assistance being offered by the provincial and federal governments.

"If you consider the productivity of their plants in Ontario and the quality awards that we have won and the recent investments that they have made,  I think it's in the long-term interests of GM to continue to avail themselves of our labour force and our government's commitment to the future of this industry here," he said.

Hampton said the government should be prepared to partner with GM.

"And this is where government should be saying to General Motors, look, we're prepared to co-invest with you -- but we want some product guarantees and we want some job guarantees," he said.

Buckley expressed disappointment about the progress of discussions between governments and the automakers about the promised $4 billion in aid.

The companies' Canadian operations must submit their restructuring plans by Feb. 20.

McGuinty said it's encouraging the funding hasn't been snapped up.

"This is good news," he said. "They're telling us that they don't need the money as quickly as they had originally thought, but they will be looking to us for support when it comes to pursuing transformation right here in Ontario."

Buckley told CTV Toronto that if auto jobs are to survive in Ontario, Asian countries have to open up their markets to vehicles manufactured in North America.

Federal Industry Minister Tony Clement, an Ontario MP, has said that auto labour rates should come down in Canada -- a suggestion the CAW hasn't welcomed but hasn't rejected.

Canadian sales figures

January is normally a very slow month for auto sales.

However, GM's sales were 46.6 per cent lower last month than they were compared to January 2008

Here are the figures for some other automakers in comparing January 2009 to January 2008:

• Chrysler - down 33.7 per cent
• Ford - down 14.2 per cent
• Honda - down 37.1 per cent
• Nissan - down 16 per cent
• Toyota - down 2.7 per cent
• Hyundai - up 18.9 per cent
• Mitsubishi - up 9.1 per cent
• Suzuki - up 4.3 per cent

With a report from CTV Toronto's Paul Bliss and files from The Canadian Press