Trudeau defends billions spent attracting electric vehicle industry

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OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau defended his government’s decision to spend billions attracting electric vehicle manufacturing, arguing some recent slowdowns in the market are just bumps along the road.

“Canada has positioned itself to be a leader in the EV industry and we will continue to be because those are where the jobs are going to be, not just a couple of years from now, but a decade from now, a generation from now,” he said Monday.

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Trudeau was in Napanee, Ont., where he announced $44.3 million, alongside $20 million from the government of Ontario to go toward a $575-million expansion of a Goodyear plant in the community. The expanded plant will come with 200 news jobs and will help produce tires for EV vehicles.

The Goodyear announcement is relatively small compared to the sizeable amounts of money the government has spent to help companies like Volkswagen, Honda and Stellantis set up new manufacturing facilities for EV batteries and vehicles.

The government has also given money to companies in the battery supply chain, including Umicore which planned a facility near Kingston, Ont., but has since put the project on hold citing a slow-down in EV sales.

Ford recently announced plans to use an Oakville, Ont., plant that has been designated for future EV production to produce gas-powered pickup truck instead.

Trudeau said the government knows there are going to be ups and downs as the new technology gets underway, but long-term the industry will be significant and Canada has the critical minerals that can make the project a success.

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“We know that climate change is real. We know that electric vehicles are going to be essential for the future and the choices that we’ve made as a government have ensured that Canada will be part of it.”

Trudeau called out opposition leader Pierre Poilievre as unsupportive of the EV investments saying the Conservatives would not have made any of the investments.

“I know there’s a lot of people who wouldn’t have made that choice. The Conservative Party of Canada has said very clearly it would not have made this choice, of investing in EVs, investing in workers.”

Last week, Poilievre said a Conservative government would impose tariffs on EVs as well as steel and aluminum, from China and called out Trudeau for failing to do so.

“Canada’s workers are the best in the world. They deserve powerful paycheques and a prime minister who will protect them, rather than allowing authoritarian overseas governments to steal our jobs with their low labour standards and poor environmental policies,” Poilievre said.

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The Biden administration has imposed tariffs on Chinese made EVs and while the Liberals launched formal consultations on tariffs, they have yet to announce any new levies.

Trudeau accused Poilievre of focusing only on the politics instead of actually trying to support Canadian workers.

“It’s a bit of a joke that Poilievre is suddenly talking about workers in the auto industry. He has said repeatedly that he wouldn’t be making these investments in our auto industry,” the prime minister said. “For him to suddenly turn around and say, we’re worried about EVs. That’s baloney. He’s looking for a political angle because that’s all he does.”

National Post
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