Yet another influential voice is chiming in after a $5 billion EV battery plant in the region was announced.
Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation, and Trade, Vic Fedeli says this is just the beginning of plans to turn Ontario into an Electric Vehicle (EV) manufacturing powerhouse.
That includes using Canada's mineral resource wealth to our advantage.
As he tells AM800's Patty Handysides, the Ontario government is all in.
"We are supporting the OEMs, we're supporting the first battery manufacturing facility, we're supporting the parts makers, the tool guys, and mould makers. We've got all pieces of the EV ecosystem. Our chips are all in the middle of the table here."
He adds, there's little interest in stopping at raw resource production when parts can be manufactured here.
"There is worldwide interest in Northern Ontario's mineral wealth. We, collectively, are tired of being haulers and hewers. We want value added. So you'll see us push hard in the north to manufacture the precursor, and the cathodes. Those are components of EV batteries," says Fedeli.
Fedeli is also confident the EV battery making process can happen start-to-finish, right here in our backyard.
"Canada is the only country in the Western Hemisphere with all the raw materials required for a litium ion battery. And Northern Ontario is the number one producer of nickel. Canada, Ontario, is where the minerals are, and those minerals are needed to make electric vehicle batteries."
The operation is set to create 2,500 jobs in the region, and Ontario Premier Doug Ford says it's the largest automotive investment in Canadian history.