Verge of a Stellantis battery plant deal? Politicians and leaders weigh in

Windsor-Tecumseh MP Irek Kusmierczyk used a basketball analogy to describe where negotiations stand between the Liberals and Stellantis and guaranteed a Game 7 win.

“We want the ball and you will see we will have a battery plant. We will have an agreement,” said Kusmierczyk.

It's a clutch statement but the winning play has yet to be executed.

Kusmierczyk says the x’s and o's are still being negotiated but the inbound play is coming.

“We just wanna make sure that we get the best deal for our community,” Kusmierczyk said from Ottawa. “We want to make sure we get the best deal for Canada and I'm very confident that we're at those final last strokes.”

Ontario Premier Doug Ford was in Essex-County Thursday and made a point to visit Unifor Local 444 president Dave Cassidy at his office.

“Everybody's on board. I know everybody's trying to negotiate a little bit of the piece and I need all parties to come together and make sure that whole piece fits so that we can get this deal across the line.”

After his chat with Premier Ford, Cassidy feels the deal is a slam dunk.

“We are going to get this across the line,” he said.

How close is the deal to crossing that line?

Ford told a gathering this morning at Liuna 625! the deal is inches away.

“We do expect that agreement to come very soon,” Kusmierczyk said.

Stephen MacKenzie is optimistic, “but I'm anxious and like to get this across the finish line.”

The Invest Windsor Essex CEO feels a deal that crosses the finish line could open the door for spin off opportunities.

“To have this uncertainty removed will hopefully clear the way for us to help finalize some of those deals,” MacKenzie said.

Some of the deals in the pipeline amount to billions of dollars.

“Let's get this wrapped up and that'll help our team close another billion dollars of deals that will account for another thousand jobs for our residents,” he said.

Kusmierczyk feels a deal will be this region’s championship that people will be talking about, “for decades to come.”