'It cannot happen': Windsor leaders fight to ensure all components of NextStar Energy battery plant remain in Windsor
'It cannot happen': Windsor leaders fight to ensure all components of NextStar Energy battery plant remain in Windsor
Local politicians and union leaders are screaming from the rooftop at the federal government to get the full deal done to secure the NextStar Energy battery plant in Windsor after a number of sources confirmed to CTV News the module assembly component could be in jeopardy.
When the battery plant was first announced in March of 2022, it included a 45-Gigawatt, vertically integrated facility, featuring 2,500 jobs for cell production and module assembly and 650 research and development jobs.
“We're hearing this Stellantis is now looking at moving the module portion of the business as part of their contingency plan. Over to Michigan. And so that is 300 jobs,” said Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens.
According to Unifor local 444 president Dave Cassidy, the stalemate is over the subsidy for module production.
The U.S., under the inflation reduction act is offering a $45 per killawatt hour subsidy. Through negotiation, Canada is trying to match that, Cassidy said, noting the subsidy gap could equate to billions of dollars on Stellantis’ bottom line every year.
“We cannot have the modules be assembled over there and then brought back across. It cannot happen,” Cassidy said. “These are good paying jobs. We need to make sure we are staying in here and we need to make sure that every flippin politician and Windsor and Essex are singing that.”
Even if cell production continues and module production leaves, Mayor Drew Dilkens is concerned about what losing module assembly could mean to the 650 R&D jobs.
“Everyone needs a full understanding of what it means when you pull one of the legs off the stool,” DIlkens said over the phone. “We want the whole loaf, not a half a loaf Windsor deserves a full loaf, and we want it all built here and continue the construction ASAP.”
Ward 1 city councillor Fred Francis says he’d be very disappointed to see the module assembly jobs go stateside.
“We're literally at the one yard line. Let's cross the goal line and ensure we get as the entire thing. The whole investment, the whole shebang, every single job possible,” said Francis.
Liberal MP Irek Kusmierczyk said that’s his goal too.
“We're fighting for all of it. We're fighting for every single job,” said Kusmierczyk. “I can tell you that the negotiations right now are at that very last critical stage where all of that is being is being discussed. We're in the advanced stages.”
Kusmierczyk drove to Woodstock Thursday for some face-time with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
“Speaking with the prime minister today, he said, I am 100 per cent committed to Windsor, and that hasn't changed as well,” said Kusmierczyk.
While everyone waits for a deal, Dilkens said the uncertainty is turning off future supply chain investments and harming the relationship with the city’s largest employer in Stellantis.
“We certainly need to give our largest employer the certainty that they need that the the federal government has committed to matching the US Federal Government's inflation Reduction Act incentives. They need to be there,” said Dilkens. “This was the first project out of the gate they need to fund it so it gets built with people in our community to get employed.”
Stellantis once again declined to comment to CTV News.
“Stellantis has the biggest footprint at any OEM, any OEM in Canada is right here with Stellantis. And yet here we are looking like buffoons and that's what's going on right now. We're looking like buffoons,” he said.
“We need to make sure we get there. Stop the game and stop, whoever's playing it.”
Foreign interference special rapporteur David Johnston has resigned, CTV News has confirmed. In a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Johnston cited the intense politicization of his appointment and work, as the reason for his coming departure.
Fires across the country are burning millions of hectares of land but what does that really look like? CTVNews.ca compared the blazes to some cities and lakes in the country showing just how big they have gotten.
Former U.S. president Donald Trump is facing 37 felony charges related to the mishandling of classified documents, according to an indictment unsealed Friday that alleges that he described a Pentagon 'plan of attack' and shared a classified map related to a military operation.
Former U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson shocked Britain on Friday by quitting as a lawmaker after being told he will be sanctioned for misleading Parliament.
Despite the alarming facts and figures, experts say Canada is far more reactive than it is proactive when it comes to wildfires and they’re calling for a national campaign on wildfire education to better prepare for the future.
Showers are predicted Saturday over the aggressive wildfire threatening Tumbler Ridge, but forecasters say thunderstorms could sweep through the parched region without bringing any rain.
Air Canada says it made a mistake in rejecting some compensation claims from the thousands of travellers affected by delayed flights due to computer malfunctions.
Police have shut down a section of Highway 401 westbound between Woodstock and Cambridge after a crash involving a transport truck and an Ontario Ministry of Transportation (MTO) vehicle.
London, Ont.’s soaring skyline has come with a substantial price tag for local taxpayers. A municipal financial incentive intended to encourage residential construction in downtown London has reimbursed developers millions of dollars to offset development charges in recent years.
Stevenson Memorial Hospital (SMH) in Alliston is warning residents about fraudulent activity within the community regarding an advertising opportunity.
A tenant displaced in the downtown Sudbury fire last month said her hotel is denying her request to move her room to a centralized location following an attempted break-in.
About 40 people who say they've been impacted by an increase in crime since the Living Space homeless shelter moved into their neighbourhood have taken their messages to the street.
Hundreds of counter-protesters gathered near three schools in Ottawa's west end on Friday to take a stand against a B.C. man who is protesting what he calls "gender ideology."
Foreign interference special rapporteur David Johnston has resigned, CTV News has confirmed. In a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Johnston cited the intense politicization of his appointment and work, as the reason for his coming departure.
The Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway in Ottawa's west end will be renamed Kichi Zībī Mīkan, if approved by the National Capital Commission's board of directors.
Montreal police (SPVM) stats for 2022 show that crime went up dramatically in 2022 and, taking COVID-19 pandemic numbers into account, violent crimes have been on the rise overall since 2017. In addition, motor vehicle thefts skyrocketed, having more than doubled since pre pandemic years.
A chain of illegal magic mushroom dispensaries in Ontario is determined to open a location in Montreal this summer despite the threat of a crackdown by Mayor Valerie Plante.
Nova Scotia says it has identified more details about the records stolen in a file transfer service cyber attack, impacting teachers, students and health care workers' records.
Winnipeg police say a woman is in hospital with severe injuries after she was allegedly stabbed by a man in what police describe as a completely random and unprovoked attack.
Disturbing new details about a man accused of kidnapping and sexually assaulting women in Calgary have come to light, as court documents exposing accounts from his alleged victims have been unsealed.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith named her new cabinet Friday, about two weeks after her United Conservative Party took the majority of seats in Alberta.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith named her new cabinet Friday, about two weeks after her United Conservative Party took the majority of seats in Alberta.
An "incredibly volatile" wildfire is moving closer to the B.C. community of Tumbler Ridge and officials are urging the roughly 150 people who have stayed behind—in spite of an evacuation order—to leave immediately.
