The federal industry department has so far refused to disclose to a House of Commons committee how much money the Liberals have given to the European vehicle company Volkswagen for the development of a new battery plant to be built in Ontario.
“Two things: number of jobs, amount of money. I am not asking for anything inappropriate. If the government stands by their investment, they’ll give us the numbers. I don’t need obfuscation. We need to have transparency,” said the MP.
“We asked over two weeks ago to receive this information,” he said, asking why the government is “afraid to give Canadians the number.”
There are some big numbers floating around about the amount of money the government put forward to Volkswagen, Vis said. “This is the only car company that’s been charged under my understanding with the Canadian Environmental Protection Act laws on emissions. And that was within the last seven years.”
Motion
A motion was passed by the committee on March 30 to request the terms of the contract with Volkswagon to build a subsidized battery plant by 2027. The plant is to be located in St. Thomas, Ontario. Vis said, “The number of $15 billion was being thrown around.”According to Vis, the German government offered Volkswagen over $10 billion to have a lithium battery processing plant.
Sheryl Groeneweg, director general of the Advanced Manufacturing and Industrial Strategy Branch, was asked by Vis for the amount of investment the Canadian government made with Volkswagen to develop the new battery plant.
Groeneweg replied, “That information is not yet public, so there is nothing I can communicate to you at this point.”
The committee voted on April 17 to compel Industry Canada to provide the contract to the committee by April 24. Vis said taxpayers deserve to know the total cost involved.
Ontario Liberal MP Iqwinder Gaheer said that the contract with Volkswagen “is not a one-pager.”
He said: “I’m sure it’s 200 pages, 200 pages, who knows. I’m sure it has to be translated to both languages, it has to be verified. And it could be partially in German, who knows.”
Nova Scotia Conservative MP Rick Perkins expressed doubts the government would be transparent in providing the documents.
‘Gigafactory’
On March 13, Volkswagen Group and its battery company PowerCo announced it will establish its first overseas “gigafactory” for battery cell manufacturing in St. Thomas, Ontario, with the start of production planned for 2027.The company signed an agreement last year with the federal government to identify an appropriate site for such a facility in Canada, and the Liberals committed to considering ways for Canada to contribute to Volkswagen’s battery supply chains, including raw materials and assembly.
Federal Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne and Ontario Economic Development Minister Vic Fedeli said in a joint statement that the announcement is a “major vote of confidence” for the country and the province of Ontario to be part of the electric vehicle supply chain.
In 2020, Volkswagen settled 60 counts laid under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act for installing software into diesel cars that misrepresented nitrogen oxide emissions. West Virginia University researchers discovered the emissions were nine times the legal limit by conducting road tests in 2014.
Volkswagen was forced to pay $196.5 million in fines, and $1.75 million for misleading advertising in violation of the Competition Act. The car company agreed it would provide $2.39 billion in compensation to Canadian consumers who bought a diesel Volkswagen vehicle. The company paid a total of $2.6 billion in Canada as a result of the issue.
