Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford said Thursday he will honour Ontario’s commitment to the burgeoning electric vehicle sector if re-elected, while his main political rivals were less definitive.
U.S. President Donald Trump has said his country does not want or need Canadian cars despite signing a free trade deal with Canada and Mexico in his first term. He has threatened 25 percent across-the-board tariffs on Canadian imports unless border security is improved.
Trump has also made it clear that he’s going after Ontario’s automotive industry, hoping to increase vehicle production at home.
Ford’s government agreed to an auto pact with the federal government in 2023 to pay one-third of production incentives in deals with Volkswagen, as well as Stellantis and LG Energy Solution, for their EV battery plants.
The two governments ponied up the money in order to compete with former U.S. president Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, which included a tax credit for clean vehicle purchases.
Trump has frozen funding under the act and has threatened to end it altogether.
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“Even if President Trump tears up America’s commitment to the auto industry, we will not,” Ford said at a campaign stop in London, Ont.
“I want to make it clear to every partner we have in Ontario’s electric vehicle and battery supply chain: a re-elected PC government will honour our commitment to invest in the sector.”
NDP Leader Marit Stiles said she’ll protect the auto industry, though she said she wanted to have a look at the deals with Stellantis and Volkswagen.
“I believe in the EV sector, I think this is important for the future of our own economy,” Stiles said at a campaign event in Toronto.
But she is not convinced the Stellantis and Volkswagen deals are good for Ontarians.
“Doug Ford does not make good deals for Ontario generally, and I’m going to be looking very carefully at the details of the deals that he’s struck with those folks,” she said.
Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie said she wanted to diversify Ontario’s economy when asked whether she’d support Ontario’s EV manufacturing and supply chain market.
“I’m very concerned that the premier has put all our eggs in the EV basket, has not tried to diversify our economy, insulate us in any way, and brought different kinds of investment into Ontario and create jobs,” Crombie said at a stop in Mississauga, Ont.
She said she would bring back EV rebates as one way to help grow the sector.
Should Trump follow through on his threat to go after Ontario’s auto sector through tariffs and cancelled subsidies, Ford said he would invest an additional $1 billion in a skills development fund for autoworkers to transition to a different trade.
He also pledged $100 million for an employment program to help workers “in sectors that are vulnerable to trade disruptions” train and transition to “in-demand” jobs.
Ford has made a big bet on electric vehicles during his first two terms as premier. In addition to the deals with Stellantis and Volkswagen, Ford again worked with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to help attract Honda, which plans to open its own battery-making facility next to its production plant in Alliston, Ont.
That deal does not involve production subsidies, but the federal government will provide the Japanese automaker with $2.5 billion through tax credits.
Ontario committed to providing up to $2.5 billion directly—such as for capital costs—and indirectly, such as for covering site servicing costs.
The province has also attracted several related businesses, including a cathode production plant and a separator plant, both producing materials needed to build electric-vehicle batteries.
Ford has also promised to deliver an end-to-end manufacturing chain that would see critical minerals extracted from the ground in northwestern Ontario and shipped south for processing and assembly.
Canadian automaker leaders and union executives descended on Washington, D.C., en masse for Trump’s inauguration last week in an effort to push back on possible tariffs, which would decimate the industry and make cars significantly more expensive in the U.S.
Materials, parts and vehicles cross the border numerous times in a pact that was recently updated and initiated by Trump in his first term, as part of a renegotiated free trade agreement between the two countries and Mexico.
Ontario voters will head to the polls Feb. 27.
