Conservatives, NDP should be 'celebrating' EV deals: industry minister
CTV
Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne says federal opposition parties should be 'celebrating' the recently announced electric vehicle deals, despite their criticisms the Liberals refuse to make public the terms and conditions laid out in the contracts.
Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne says federal opposition parties should be “celebrating” the recently announced electric vehicle deals, despite their criticisms the Liberals refuse to make public the terms and conditions laid out in the contracts.
In an interview airing Sunday with CTV’s Question Period host Vassy Kapelos, Champagne insisted “every country in the world would be rejoicing” at the agreements, framing them as generational deals, which cumulatively will create thousands of jobs.
“We should be celebrating,” he said, when asked whether the federal government will ever publicize the contracts signed with EV manufacturers. “We're building the industrial capacity of the future, and Canada is winning.”
“When we're winning, and we're ambitious, we should all celebrate as Canadians,” Champagne added. “There's nothing politics about that. This is about winning.”
Since spring of 2022, the federal government has announced several major investments in EV manufacturing and supply chain deals, including upgrades to Stellantis’ plants so the company can produce electric vehicles, and plans to provide approximately $13 billion in subsidies over the next decade, in order to see Volkswagen build its first overseas battery manufacturing plant in southwestern Ontario.
Last month, the federal government also announced it’d reached a deal with Honda to see the Japanese automaker build a $15-billion EV supply chain in Canada, to the tune of $2.5 billion each from the federal and Ontario governments.
In speaking about the Volkswagen deal, Champagne told Kapelos on CTV News Channel’s Power Play last year he would not offer details of the deal despite repeated questions, suggesting the information was “commercially sensitive.”
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