The federal government, which has been renegotiating its support for the NextStar Stellantis-LGES electric vehicle battery plant in Windsor, is confident that the investment is good for the country and that a deal is coming, according to Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland.
"We're very confident in the value of the Stellantis investment, which is coming," Freeland told reporters in Ottawa on Wednesday, without elaborating further.
Stellantis last month stopped construction at the $5 billion plant, which is being built in partnership with South Korea's LG Energy Solution (LGES), saying Canada had not fulfilled promises.
The battery plant investment, which included contributions by the Canada and Ontario governments, was announced in March 2022, but tensions emerged when the United States in August passed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), a massive package of clean-tech incentives for companies.
Since construction was halted in May, the provincial government has offered to increase financial support for the project and Canada's industry minister has said progress is being made to restart work at the plant.
The Stellantis-LGES battery facility is expected to produce over 45 gigawatt hours (GWh) of battery capacity annually and create an estimated 2,500 new jobs in the Windsor area in Ontario.
Last week, Stellantis confirmed they had received a written offer from the federal government, which was under financial and legal review.