Canada's auto sector faces an EV renaissance, but local job protection is a concern

Canada's auto industry is experiencing a renaissance as it transitions from building gas-powered vehicles to ones that run on batteries, but some are raising the alarm over the protection of local jobs.

Canada's auto industry is experiencing a renaissance as it transitions from building gas-powered vehicles to ones that run on batteries, but some are raising the alarm over the protection of local jobs.

Southern Ontario has become a hub for foreign automakers that have invested tens of billions of dollars since 2020 to build up electric-vehicle battery plants, with help from the federal government in the form of tax credits and subsidies.

As the federal and provincial governments subsidize that growing industry, union leaders, federal Conservatives and the NDP are demanding assurances from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that he will make sure jobs are going to Canadians.

Earlier this month, Canada's Building Trades Union called on Trudeau to intervene at the NextStar battery plant in Windsor, Ont., which is owned by Stellantis and LG Energy Solution.

The union said Canadians are being sidelined in favour of temporary foreign workers.

It said in a letter to Trudeau that 180 skilled workers in the region remain unemployed despite being available to perform work that has instead been assigned to newcomers.

It's a "brazen displacement of workers" the April 10 letter reads, "by major international corporations thumbing their noses at both the government of Canada, taxpayers and our skilled trades workers."