4 promises in the federal budget that stand out for Windsor-Essex

The Liberal government has tabled its 2022 federal budget, with a focus on making housing more affordable and other highlights that'll set the pace for Canada's spending in the coming months.

Here are some of the promises that are of interest to people in Windsor-Essex in southwestern Ontario.

The region has been buzzing with excitement about the recently announced multibillion-dollar investment that will bring an electric vehicle battery plant to Windsor.

This budget promises to help people to purchase the type of zero-emission vehicles (ZEV) those batteries will power by extending the two financial incentives currently available into March 2025.

Ottawa also wants to put more vans, trucks and SUVs into that program, promising to release more details in the coming weeks. 

It plans to launch another incentive program to help businesses buy ZEVs, which will be run by Transport Canada at a cost of $547.5 million over the next four years. 

The federal government is also mandating that sales of ZEVs make up:

It also includes spending for charging stations so Canadians can keep their ZEV charged. 

There's $500 million for large-scale urban and commercial charging infrastructure in 2022, and $400 million over four years for stations in suburban and remote communities. 

That falls short of what the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers' Association (CVMA) wanted to see. 

"Supports for consumers and charging infrastructure are not keeping pace with the government's own timetable for change," said Brian Kingston, chief executive officer of CVMA. 

The group also wanted to see incentives triple from $5,000 for to $15,000 to help make the vehicles affordable. 

The same sector experiencing what industry experts call a generational shift is weathering a semiconductor shortage that has shut down operations in Windsor. 

This budget promises $45 million over four years "to strengthen Canada's semiconductor industry."