The Mayor of Windsor is incredibly pleased that a deal has been reached to keep the NextStar electric vehicle battery plant in Windsor.
It was announced Wednesday afternoon in a statement by Stellantis and LG Energy Solution that an agreement was reached with the provincial and federal governments to continue the construction on the plant.
Drew Dilkens says this is really exciting news that this deal is now over the finish line.
The statement also says that commitments that were made by the Canadian government were honoured to level the playing field with the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act.
Effective immediately, all construction at the NextStar Energy battery plant in Windsor will resume with production operations planned to launch in 2024.
Dilkens says nothing is impossible when the community comes together.
"We got it done. And so now construction will restart on the site of the battery factory. We're going to realize that $5-billion investment and 3,000 jobs in our community, and all of the R&D [Research and Development] and the module piece, and the cell piece, it's all coming together in a wonderful way."
He says it's great to see that the plant is back on track.
"It's a transformational investment for the future of our city. This is not a small potato thing, this is major. And it will have benefits and certainly pay dividends to our community for decades, and decades to come. And knowing that it's back on track certainly everyone should breathe a sigh of relief that because the community came together, this is back on track and over the finish line which is great news."
The mayor adds that he thanks the federal government for coming to the table, but says this wouldn't have happened without Doug Ford's help.
"This would not have happened unless the Premier stepped up in a very material way, and offered provincial support to see this project over the finish line. And I'll tell you, that guy deserves a lot of credit for what he did to make sure that the future of Windsor is strong, and he made a bold investment that got it over the finish line. And we owe him a debt of gratitude for a long time to come."
NextStar Energy is the first large scale, electric vehicle battery plant in Canada.
The plant aims to have an annual production capacity in excess of 45 gigawatt hours, and would create an estimated 2,500 new jobs in the Windsor region.