'Get the deal done': City, county leaders unite in plea to secure NextStar Energy battery plant
A united front was on full display Monday as community leaders, politicians, business people, unions and educators gathered together at Windsor City Hall to ensure the NextStar Energy battery plant deal gets closed.
The resounding message was crystal clear, with Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens plainly stating, “Get the deal done.”
Construction at the module portion of the NextStar Energy battery plant has been idled for two weeks while Stellantis and LG Energy Solution negotiate with the federal government. While a deal was in place in March of 2022, the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) created competitive incentives for companies building electric vehicle components stateside putting pressure on the Canadian government to come back to the table and match those incentives.
“Today we find ourselves at an impasse,” said Dilkens. “And now, the future of the entire project is at risk due to prolonged negotiations with the federal government.”
“We have to make sure everybody's screaming on this,” said Unifor local 444 president Dave Cassidy. He’s been talking with government and company officials every day over the past two weeks and says Stellantis indicates there’s still time to make a deal, but that time is running out.
“I don't think that runway is too long. It's short, and hopefully in the next day or so this will get wrapped up,” he said.
.Stellantis and LG Energy Solution EV battery plant construction site in Windsor, Ont., on Monday, May 15, 2023. (Sijia Liu/CTV News Windsor)
Mayor Dilkens is making a notice of motion at Monday’s city council meeting, urging the federal government to act swiftly to finalize the agreement.
“They are the ones that have the capacity to follow through on the commitment that they made, which is to match the IRA incentives with our largest employer” Dilkens said. “We're going to hold their feet to the fire.”
Windsor-Tecumseh MP Irek Kusmierczyk said the magnitude of the deal is much larger than in March of 2022 but the feds are hoping all sides can stretch to get a deal done.
“This is the most important investment in the history of our community in Windsor Essex and that’s what gives me confidence, we all recognize it, we’re all working towards it, we will get an agreement, we will have a battery plant built here in Windsor,” he said Monday.
CTV reached out to Stellantis, which once again declined to comment Monday.
Dilkens mentioned his biggest fear is that negotiations drag out or go sideway and the company pulls out entirely and relocates the $5 billion investment to Michigan.
Cassidy is confident a deal will get done — and hopes this final push will show the negotiating parties the importance of the project.
“When we're all together and we're moving this forward, we're going to win on this,” he said.
“We are going to win on this project come hell or high water.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
A newspaper says video of Prince William and Kate should halt royal rumour mill. That's a tall order
Prince William and his wife Catherine have been filmed at a farm shop near their Windsor home, The Sun newspaper reported -- the first footage of Kate since she had abdominal surgery for an unspecified condition two months ago.
'You ask for your money, they disappear': Ontario man loses $17K to AI crypto scam
A Toronto man is spreading the word of a cryptocurrency scam that lures victims using AI-generated news sites after he lost $17,000 in investments.
Hertz CEO out following electric car 'horror show'
The company, which announced in January it was selling 20,000 of the electric vehicles in its fleet, or about a third of the EVs it owned, is now replacing the CEO who helped build up that fleet, giving it the company’s fifth boss in just four years.
High thoughts: The habits of Canadian cannabis users are revealed in a new StatCan report
Statistics Canada has conducted a series of surveys to measure the impacts of legalized cannabis since the Cannabis Act took effect in 2018. The latest one, the 2023 National Cannabis Survey, sheds light on users' preferences and habits last year.
Demand soars for solar eclipse glasses in Canada. Are they worth buying?
The demand for total solar eclipse glasses used to safely view the rare celestial event has been ramping up as sellers, along with astronomy and eye-care experts in Canada, warn that viewing the eclipse with the naked eye is dangerous.
Trump says Jews who vote for Democrats 'hate Israel' and their religion
Former U.S. president Donald Trump on Monday charged that Jews who vote for Democrats 'hate Israel' and hate 'their religion,' igniting a firestorm of criticism from the White House and Jewish leaders.
Toronto family doctor who called patient's body 'perfect' suspended for 3 months: tribunal
A family doctor in Toronto has been suspended for three months after a disciplinary tribunal found that he failed to follow proper protocols while examining a patient's breasts and made inappropriate comments about her body.
Freddie Mercury's home is on the market for first time since 1980 minus his 'exquisite clutter'
Freddie Mercury's sanctuary in London, where he lived the last decade of his life, is on sale for the first time in nearly half a century -- minus his "exquisite clutter."
'The lost season': Winter comes to a close as Canada's warmest on record
The warmest winter on record could have far-reaching effects on everything from wildfire season to erosion, climatologists say, while offering a preview of what the season could resemble in the not-so-distant future unless steps are taken to cut greenhouse gas emissions.