One of the world’s largest automakers recently halted construction of an electric vehicle battery plant in Windsor, Ont., saying the federal government had failed to deliver on its promises.
Stellantis, which notably makes Chrysler, Ram and Fiat vehicles, and South Korean battery maker LG Energy Solution announced last year the construction of a $5 billion plant that was expected to create 2,500 jobs.
All levels of government were to provide financial support as part of an agreement, still to be tied up, but Stellantis now says the federal government “has not followed through on what was agreed” basically so far.
The federal government says negotiations are continuing.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford says he’s really worried about the turn of events. He believes Ottawa should support Stellantis the same way it did with Volkswagen to build another battery plant in southwestern Ontario.
The agreement with Volkswagen provides for an investment of $700 million from the federal government and $500 million from Ontario, in addition to subsidies for the production cost of each battery, or from $8 to $13 billion over a decade.
The Ontario government will also spend hundreds of millions more on public infrastructure in the St. Thomas area, south of London.
“We can compete with any state in the United States,” said the Ontario Premier. “But the one thing we can’t do is compete with the US federal government: that’s the job of the Canadian federal government, and they can do it. »
“We’re sure they made a promise to the residents of Windsor — I was there with the Prime Minister [Justin Trudeau]. Now they have to keep their promise to the people of Windsor,” said Doug Ford.