'Next few days': Feds and Stellantis/LG inching closer to finalizing Windsor EV battery plant deal
A deal between Stellantis/LG and the federal government to hammer out incentives to build and operate a 45 Gigawatt EV battery plant facility will be done this week, according to industry insiders.
“The resolution on this in the next few days. We've been very confident from the beginning of this quite public crisis, that Stellantis is committed to Windsor, and so is the federal and provincial government,” said Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association president Flavio Volpe during an announcement in London Wednesday.
Construction was halted at the module plant in Windsor on May 15, with Stellantis and LG putting out a statement warning they were implementing “contingency plans” because the federal government hasn't lived up to an agreement to match subsidies on offer in the United States.
Last Friday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said the province would provide more money to secure the deal amid pressure from the federal government to pay its “fair share.”
Windsor-Tecumseh Liberal MP Irek Kusmierczyk said Wednesday negotiations are now in an advanced stage and the government is moving toward an agreement.
“We will have an agreement and we will have a battery plant built in Windsor. That, I am 100 per cent confident about,” Kusmierczyk said.
“This does take a little bit of time and I just wanted to emphasize as well that really it's about partnership. It's about all levels of government working together,” the MP added. “I was pleased to see that the Ontario government finally came to the table. That was an important move. And that's what gives me confidence. We're gonna get this agreement done in in a short fashion.”
Premier Ford was asked when the deal would be inked during a stop in London Wednesday and he indicated it’s out of his government’s hands.
“We're waiting for the federal government to finish off the deal, as you know, we put in our fair share, and now we're stepping up again, to put more money because it's all about the people,” Ford said. “It's all about making sure they have the jobs down in the Windsor region and right across southwestern Ontario.”
The original deal with Stellantis and LG, signed in March 2022, would have seen Ontario and Canada contribute $500 million each toward the capital costs of the new battery plant.
But the companies went back to Canada in August after the United States signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law, which offers companies production tax credits of up to $35 per kilowatt hour in each battery produced.
Volpe predicts the deal will get resolved this week.
”For lots of reasons, including the fact that Stellantis is on a production schedule and that plant, it took a long time to get to where it is, because it needs to make it for 2024 calendar year and 2025 model year, they can't just close it and go somewhere else and they don't want to,” Volpe said. “It anchors two assembly plants and a 650 person R&D centre. The federal government has been resolute that they want to do this deal that they just need to work out the last details.”
“What we saw was the kind of sausage making you normally see in private, go public,” Volpe added.
CTV News reached out to Stellantis Wednesday but the company declined to comment.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction overturned by N.Y. appeals court
New York's highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction, reversing a landmark ruling of the #MeToo era in determining the trial judge improperly allowed women to testify about allegations against the ex-movie mogul that weren't part of the case.
BREAKING Honda to get up to $5B in govt help for EV battery, assembly plants
Honda is set to build an electric vehicle battery plant next to its Alliston, Ont., assembly plant, which it is retooling to produce fully electric vehicles, all part of a $15-billion project that is expected to include up to $5 billion in public money.
MPP Sarah Jama asked to leave Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
MPP Sarah Jama was asked to leave the Legislative Assembly of Ontario by House Speaker Ted Arnott on Thursday for wearing a keffiyeh, a garment that is banned at Queen’s Park.
CTE: Researchers believe widespread brain injury may contribute to veteran suicide rate
Researchers are working to better understand if some Canadian military veterans may be suffering from Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, also known as CTE -- a disorder previously found in the brains of professional football and hockey players after their death.
1 arrested in northern Alberta during public shelter order
Residents of John D'Or Prairie, a community on the Little Red River Cree Nation in northern Alberta, were told to take shelter Thursday morning during a police operation.
Secret $70M Lotto Max winners break their silence
During a special winner celebration near their hometown, Doug and Enid shared the story of how they discovered they were holding a Lotto Max ticket worth $70 million and how they kept this huge secret for so long.
Remains from a mother-daughter cold case were found nearly 24 years later, after a deathbed confession from the suspect
A West Virginia father is getting some sense of closure after authorities found the remains of his young daughter and her mother following a deathbed confession from the man believed to have fatally shot them nearly two decades ago.
New deep-water channel allows first ship to pass Key bridge wreckage in Baltimore
The first cargo ship passed through a newly opened deep-water channel in Baltimore on Thursday after being stuck in the harbor since the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed four weeks ago, halting most maritime traffic through the city's port.
First in Canada procedure performed at London, Ont. hospital
A London man has become the first person in Canada to receive a robotic assisted surgery on his spine. Dave Myeh suffered from debilitating, chronic back pain that led to sciatica in his right now and extreme pain in his lower back.