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Deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland, in a campaign stop at the University of Windsor on Thursday, promised “truly massive” investment to shift to a green economy, including electric vehicle and battery production here, if the Liberals are re-elected.

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“One of the core planks in our platform is truly massive investment in Canada’s green transition,” said Freeland, who was finance minister in the Liberal government.

It’s the right thing to do for the planet and for future generations, she said.

“But investing in the transition to a green economy is also absolutely critical for Canada’s economic future,” she said.

Citing the G7 and G20 finance ministers meetings this summer, she said, “The industrial economies of the world have made the choice to shift to an economy not based on fossil fuels, to a clean and green economy.

“We can either be in the forefront of that green transition or we can be left behind. The simple economic reality is if we do not invest really meaningfully in the green economic transition today, no one will buy the things that we make. And Canada is a trading nation. We need the world to buy our stuff.

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“Windsor knows that very, very well. We need to help you make clean, green things that the world wants.”

Investing in electric vehicles and the supply chain to support them is one of Mayor Drew Dilkens’ five priority issues in the campaign.

Freeland, who met with leaders from industry, labour, the university and college, United Way and UHC Hub of Opportunities, also addressed the global shortage of semiconductor microchips that has repeatedly shut down auto production here.

“There needs to be more emphasis on resilience in supply chains,” she said.

Depending on just-in-time delivery with supply chains that stretch around the world creates “rifts and vulnerabilities,” she said.

There’s a growing view calling for “friend-shoring” — supply chains that connect countries that are geographically close and are also political allies. For Canada, that means the United States.

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“I think working on that has real, real promise for the Canadian economy and for the people of Windsor,” she said.

Freeland, on her first campaign stop since the Liberals released their platform Wednesday, also pitched the Liberals’ $10-a-day child care. The government has already reached agreements with eight provinces and territories covering 40 per cent of Canada’s children. But there is no agreement with Ontario yet. The program is particularly important for Windsor, which has a one of the highest rates of child poverty, she said.

High-quality, affordable child care would offer all children “the best possible start in life,” and it would offer all parents the opportunity to improve their education and skills and get jobs, she said.

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She called it “transformational for this community.”

Establishing Ojibway National Urban Park is also “definitely a priority for our government,” Freeland said.

A re-elected Liberal government would also invest an additional $6 billion in health care to clear surgery backlogs in hospitals caused by the pandemic, she said.

Asked to respond to COVID-19 vaccine protesters who have rallied in Windsor and across the country and mobbed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s campaign stops, Freeland said, “It’s not only appropriate for governments to introduce strong vaccine mandates, it would be wrong to do otherwise. We do not let a person drive their car while they’re drunk, and we should not let a person who hasn’t been vaccinated get on a plane and sit in a small space next to other people. The time has come for governments to say this is it. If you don’t want to get vaccinated, you can not participate in the life of the community because you are making the choice to endanger other people in the community.”

ajarvis@postmedia.com