Ford says Ontario offering more money to Stellantis, feds say deal is close
CTV
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.
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 Francois-Philippe Champagne said "we're making progress" on finalizing the deal and getting things back on track.
Champagne said he had a two-hour 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.
