A show of solidarity at Windsor City Hall as the mayor, council and city administration are urging the federal government to finalize a deal to secure the entire NextStar electric vehicle battery manufacturing plant.
Windsor mayor Drew Dilkens announced during a news conference Monday morning that he will be introducing a Notice of Motion during today's city council meeting that will call on the Trudeau government to act swiftly in finalizing the agreement.
Speaking during the news conference, he says this impasse not only jeopardizes the completion of the entire plant but also efforts to attract additional investments into the region.
"All of us are deeply concerned about whether we will see the full plant as initially promised, including the battery-cell, module, and research and development components," he says. "Or will we find ourselves with a scaled-down version of what was possible and promised to Windsor and Windsor-Essex?"
The future of the electric vehicle battery plant has been in doubt after it was revealed in early May that negotiations over increased incentives had stalled between the federal government and Stellantis and LG Energy Solution.
The automaker is exploring options for the plant which could include moving part of the planned operation to Michigan or elsewhere in the U.S.
When the $5-billion plant was announced in 2022, the site was intended to assemble both cells and modules in two different sections along with a research and development aspect, but the battery module production component is reportedly in jeopardy.
Dilkens says we can not afford to jeopardize the completion and operation of the module facility.
"This full project represents an extraordinary for the city, for the region, for the province and, quite frankly, for our whole country," he says. "This is the opportunity for us to undergo a remarkable transformation to emerge as a leader in the green economy and to actively participate in the evolution of the auto industry."
Windsor mayor Drew Dilkens speaks at a news conference at city hall, May 29, 2023 (Photo courtesy: City of Windsor)
Unifor Local 444 president Dave Cassidy, who represents workers at the Stellantis owned Windsor Assembly Plant, also spoke during the news conference.
He says they were all part of a team - the city, the province, the federal government - when it came to getting this deal.
"Everybody was part of that team and now here we are, we're missing one part of that team," says Cassidy.
He stressed that this is not about corporate welfare, it's about return on investment.
"We need this investment here. We need this for good paying jobs, we need it to make sure we have the tax dollars, it's so important to us," he says.
Cassidy also says he spoke with Mark Stewart, the Chief Operating Officer of Fiat Chrysler North America, on Sunday about the negotiations.
"I said to Mark 'how are we making out?' He said 'we still have a little bit of time but the time window is getting smaller,'" adds Cassidy.
In early May, Stellantis and LG Energy Solution warned they were implementing contingency plans because the federal government hasn't lived up to their agreement, pointing to incentives provided to the Volkswagen plant in St. Thomas.
Unifor Local 444 President Dave Cassidy speaks at a news conference at city hall, May 29, 2023 (Photo courtesy: City of Windsor)
With files from Rob Hindi