Stellantis is renewing calls for the federal government to ink a new contract for the Electric Vehicle (EV) battery factory in Windsor.
Since May 12, the automaker and Ottawa have been sparring over the fate of the $5-billion facility already under construction.
“Stellantis and LG Energy Solution simply ask that the Canadian government keep its commitments in relation to what was agreed last February and which led us to continue construction work of the gigafactory in Windsor,” Stellantis officials wrote in a statement issued Wednesday.
“This uncertainty is unfair to our Canadian employees, as well as towards Stellantis and LGES investments."
When speaking with the media Tuesday evening after a news conference about EV investments in Detroit, Canada’s Minister of Transport Omar Alghabra said they will come to an agreement with Stellantis.
"I want to say to the people of Windsor, remain confident,” said Alghabra. “This is, we have a plan that will revitalize the automotive sector in Ontario, in Windsor region and we're going to see not only this but even more exciting news in the coming months and years.”
Queen's Park debate
The Stellantis deal was a hot topic at Queen’s Park on Wednesday.
“We know the feds have committed to Stellantis in fact, in writing, five times they have committed to matching the production incentives of the United States. We are urging the Federal Government to honour their commitment,” said Ontario’s Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade Vic Fedeli.
Windsor West NDP MPP Lisa Gretzky said they are “seeing a game of jurisdictional football.”
“The Premier says it's up to the Federal Government. The Federal Government says the province needs to step up too, but secure new ones.”
Gretzky went on to say they need the premier to take leadership and not just wait for someone else to save the day.
Ford responded saying “I think the cheese has slipped off the cracker with that member.”
“It's pretty rich for the member of Windsor to say what she just said when for 15 years you could shoot a cannon down the middle of the street of Windsor. Now Windsor is thriving. It's thriving, not only did the member not support it, she voted against it. She voted against every economic business opportunity down in Windsor.”
Someone from the NDP bench hurled back an insult at the premier, saying "the cheese has slipped off the cracker, really? Coming from the 800-pound gorilla."
Hansard transcription attributes this to NDP MPP for Hamilton Mountain Monique Taylor.
In 2020, Ford warned health officials he “will be like an 800-pound gorilla on their backs” if COVID-19 testing numbers continue to fall below what is expected.
Some construction halted
Construction of the east end factory, which will make electric-vehicle batteries, has proceeded quickly since the February announcement.
There are two separate projects at the site; a cell production facility and a module building.
Work has now stalled on the module building, but continues at the cell production facility, according to Stellantis.
Unifor Local 444 president Dave Cassidy told CTV News Tuesday 500 people are still working at the site.
“It’s not effecting our third shift, it’s not effecting our investment at this point,” Cassidy said. “This is a little set back, but I’m telling you things are going to be okay,” he said.
