The construction of an electric vehicle battery factory in Windsor, Ontario has been halted as the companies behind it lobby for more public money from the Canadian government.
Stellantis and LG, which announced the 45 gigawatt-hour factory last year, announced the shutdown Monday. The factory would supply the automaker’s assembly plant.
Canada industry minister François-Philippe Champagne agrees that the Ontario government hasn’t yet paid its “fair share” to advance negotiations with the automaker Stellantis.
We've always said we will be competitive with the U.S. when it comes to the auto sector.
But we need to work together at all levels of government. What we now need is for Ontario to pay its fair share. Full stop. Windsor is a key place to build our EV ecosystem. pic.twitter.com/XmN829ch5v
— François-Philippe Champagne (FPC) ???????? (@FP_Champagne) May 16, 2023
Ontario Premier Doug Ford, for his part, pointed to the federal government.
“It really worries me,” he said following an unrelated announcement in Mississauga, Ontario. “We need the federal government to come to the table and show their support like they have all along.”
Champagne made the tweet Monday night while traveling to South Korea, where LG is based, as part of a trade trip with Prime Minster Justin Trudeau.
Trudeau’s government has previously offered as much as $13 billion to Volkswagen to construct a vehicle battery plant in Ontario.
“The capital expenditure is the easy part of the equation, which we have always done and we have done with our partners all along,” Champagne told reporters in Seoul on Tuesday. “What we’re saying now when we say ‘pay their fair share’ is to make sure that they would be with us in terms of production support.”
Last year, Stellantis and LG Energy pledged to invest more than $4 billion in the Windsor battery facility, while Ontario and Canada promised roughly C$1 billion to help Stellantis retool a pair of Ontario plants to build electric vehicles.
However, Champagne said Stellantis asked the Canadian government to renegotiate after US President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act, which include incentives for EV manufacturing in the country.
Trudeau also promised more government assistance to help Canadian manufacturers compete, according to reports. Growing EV manufacturing in Canada is a priority, Champagne said.
“There’s a negotiation, that’s fair,” Champagne said. “But my job and our job is to fight for Canadians,” he said.
“So I’m fighting. We got a good deal with Volkswagen, we’re going to get a good deal with LG-Stellantis and we’re going to get a deal that we can afford as Canadians.”
Contact Andrew Kessel at andrew.kessel@proactiveinvestors.com
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