Ontario Premier Doug Ford said the province is offering more money in a bid to keep automaker Stellantis and its Korean partner from pulling out of building an electric vehicle battery plant in Windsor.
“This is all about saving jobs and giving people the quality of life they deserve in southwestern Ontario.”
Stellantis and LG Energy have threatened to pull the plug on the $5-billion NextStar Energy battery plant after accusing the federal government of failing to live up to its promises. The federal government in turn has been pressuring the province to put more cash into the pot to help defray the costs of matching the subsidies offered in the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act.
“The increased financial commitment from Doug Ford is a significant and encouraging step in the right direction and instilling optimism that the federal government and Stellantis group will be able to now finalize the deal,” Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens said in a statement.
Unifor Local 444 president Dave Cassidy said the breakthrough is a huge relief after several days of intense uncertainty.
“I’m just thrilled, over the moon,” said Unifor Local 444 president Dave Cassidy. “It’s just frustrating we had to have these discussions. The reality is it has come to fruition as we knew it would.
“I’ve always been confident because, once the federal government announced the project, to take it back would’ve been political suicide.”
Stellantis/LG stopped construction on a portion of the plant Monday while the two sides continued discussions on achieving a final deal.
“We’re not commenting,” Stellantis Canada’s head of communications LouAnn Gosselin told the Star.
Cassidy said the lesson going forward is the federal government has to include the provinces at the table in the negotiations of any future IRS-related subsidy packages.
“Stellantis invested a lot of money and people, and then to see it nearly wrecked, I don’t like it,” Cassidy said.
“In order to participate, we have to be part of the process (of the EV transformation). If we’re not in the process, we’re not going to be in the manufacturing game.”
He noted Ontario has committed the same amounts for both the Stellantis and Volkswagen battery plant deals.
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland countered this week that regional fairness was becoming a factor in light of the large investment the federal government has made in Ontario’s automotive sector. In the past two years, it has helped attract investments from automakers worth over $25 billion.
Freeland said provinces that benefit from the federal government’s $120-billion green industrial strategy should also pay their fair share.
— With files from The Canadian Press
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