Ontario ‘putting more money on the table’ for Stellantis, Ford says

Ontario is offering more money in a bid to keep automaker Stellantis from pulling out of building an electric-vehicle battery plant in Windsor, Ont., Premier Doug Ford said Friday.

Stellantis and LG Energy Solution announced last year that they were building the $5-billion plant, but have in recent days stopped construction and warned 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.

Following Ford’s comments, federal Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne said “we’re making progress” on finalizing the deal and getting things back on track.

Champagne said he had a twohour dinner with the president of LG Energy Solutions, Kwon Young Soo, during a visit to Seoul this week, and said it was a productive meeting. Champagne said Kwon wrote back to him Friday morning.

“I think we have a common understanding on the way forward,” Champagne said from Washington, D.C., where he was attending meetings.

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.

Kwon and Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares wrote last month to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, saying Ottawa had confirmed in writing five times that it would match production incentives under the United States’ Inflation Reduction Act, but has not delivered on those commitments.

Ford said earlier this week he was disappointed with how the federal government has handled the issue, since the province didn’t make those production subsidy commitments, but said he was working with officials in Ottawa.

“I will confirm we’re putting more money on the table,” he said after an unrelated announcement in St. Catharines.

“This is all about saving jobs and giving people the quality of life they deserve in southwestern Ontario.”

The Stellantis battery plant would supply its car manufacturing factories in North America and employ about 2,500 people. Auto parts makers expect the plant to create about 10,000 indirect jobs.

‘‘ This is all about saving jobs and giving people the quality of life they deserve in southwestern Ontario.

PREMIER DOUG FORD