Deal struck to keep Stellantis-LG electric vehicle battery plant in Windsor, Ont.
CBC
Stellantis and LG Energy Solution have reached a deal with Ottawa and Ontario to continue the construction of the NextStar electric vehicle (EV) battery plant in Windsor, Ont., the company confirmed Wednesday.
Construction has resumed, Stellantis said in an evening statement. The exact breakdown of the deal and how much it's worth are still unknown.
"We are pleased that the federal government with the support of the provincial government came back and met their commitment of levelling the playing field with the [Inflation Reduction Act]," said Mark Stewart, Stellantis chief operating officer North America.
It's been more than seven weeks since it was learned that the future of the plant being built in Windsor was in jeopardy. Stellantis says NextStar Energy is the first large-scale EV battery plant in Canada.
In early June, Stellantis and the federal government confirmed the automaker and LG Energy Solution received an offer from Ottawa, and their financial and legal teams were mulling it over.
Unifor Local 444 president Dave Cassidy told CBC News Wednesday evening it was a "milestone" investment.
"Exciting. We've been waiting in excess of 40-some days now to see where this was going to go," Cassidy said. "The negotiations back and forth between the feds and Stellantis and then finally we have a resolve to this, [it's] just amazing."
Flavio Volpe, president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturing Association, said the public negotiations prompted "anxiety" in the supply industry.
"But I've said from the beginning, I never lost faith that the company was going to be fully committed to the entire footprint and that both governments, the federal and provincial governments, would do nothing less than the full investment."
Volpe said he was not concerned that the deal's re-negotiation would set a precedent for future negotiations.
"Anybody else having the discussion is under the new rules, and so I'm not worried about a precedent here, anybody that is negotiating a similar investment didn't have a previous terms and conditions in place."
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau previously said the offer was "respectful to taxpayers" and would create "great jobs" for generations to come to secure a future in communities across southern Ontario.
In May, Stellantis said it was moving to "contingency plans" because the federal government wasn't honouring its agreement. That's when the automaker stopped most of its construction at the site.
Word of a tentative deal being reached was first reported by the Toronto Star on May 31.
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