Trudeau has promised he didn’t honor the Stellantis EV deal for Windsor

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It looks like Justin Trudeau made bigger promises than he wanted to keep, and it could cost thousands of jobs. After giving Volkswagen a huge subsidy, the Trudeau Liberals apparently promised a similar package but failed to deliver it for Stellantis, the parent company of Chrysler, Dodge and Fiat, among other brands.

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Now that Stellantis is halting construction of an electric vehicle battery plant in Windsor that helped Ontario build the Volkswagen plant in St. Thomas, the Trudeau Liberals are blaming others for their failures.

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Apparently, the problem with the Stellantis deal isn’t that the Trudeau government made a promise and then didn’t deliver, but that the Ford government in Ontario isn’t paying its “fair share.” The main problem with this argument is that the Ford administration first heard about it from the media after the Trudeau administration began spreading this message.

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That’s right, they didn’t even discuss it with their e-crime partner before addressing the media, and didn’t even negotiate on Twitter like Trudeau’s Industry Minister Francois Phillipe Champagne did on Tuesday night. That’s a fact confirmed not only by provincial government sources, but also by industry officials close to the deal.

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Apparently, Trudeau’s team was under fire as Stellantis, its partner LG Energy Solutions, Drew Dilkins, the Mayor of Windsor, Unifor and the province all called for a deal. First there were leaks to the media, then direct comments – a tweet from Champagne and a more elaborate message on Wednesday morning.

“I would say now what we need and the message to our counterparts in Ontario is, you know, pay your fair share and we will end this standoff if you want to,” Champagne said during a news conference in South Korea.

“It’s a terrible shape,” said a source close to the negotiations, describing the government’s public statements.

The Ford administration and the Trudeau administration, despite their political differences, have worked closely together on these deals. Ford has faced political trouble for his closeness to Trudeau. He’s heard from supporters who think the government shouldn’t support the EV switch in this way.

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The thanks Ford just got from Trudeau was throwing the Prime Minister in front of the bus while various Cabinet ministers took turns going over Ford, backing up and doing it again.

Trudeau has fully focused on electric vehicles. His government is offering consumers a discount for the purchase. His government has mandated that 20% of all vehicles sold in Canada will be zero-emission vehicles by 2026, 60% by 2030, and all new vehicles by 2035.

According to Stellantis, after the Biden administration — the real villain here — introduced its Inflation Reduction Act last August, Trudeau offered similar manufacturing subsidies to suit Americans. This was communicated to Stellantis several times in writing by the government, but never delivered.

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After watching Volkswagen receive its massive subsidies, up to $13 billion if production targets are met, Stellantis upped the ante, but again, despite his promises, Trudeau didn’t deliver on what he promised. Now, after the company halted construction of its Windsor facility and said it was addressing contingencies — such as a move to the United States — Trudeau has fallen back on his offer; he blames others.

Perhaps the Ford government will come to the table and offer more; They have aligned Ontario’s industrial future to ensure manufacturing stays there while the auto industry transitions to electric power. However, the way to bring your partner to the table is to ask them questions, and not openly attack them and claim they are not doing enough.

Trudeau’s handling of this matter is “stupid,” as one pro-settlement advocate told me. Whether he can recover remains to be seen. However, if this plant and these jobs disappear, he is the only one to blame.