Calling St. Thomas the place to build the future together, PM Justin Trudeau was in St. Thomas this morning to officially announce the city will be home to Volkswagen’s first EV battery plant in North America.
Trudeau admits the government had to put some money on the table to convince Volkswagen to choose St. Thomas as the site of its new massive plant.
But he points out the ‘gigafactory’ will create up to three-thousand direct jobs and 30-thousand indirect jobs and will eventually surpass any government investment.
Trudeau on several occasions referenced the hard-working people of St. Thomas and the city’s history with manufacturing.
The plant will occupy a footprint the size of 210 football fields.
The facility will contribute over 200 billion dollars to Canada’s economy in the next decade.
Premier Doug Ford referred to the investment as the largest in Canada’s history.
The province says Volkswagen will invest seven-billion-dollars in the St. Thomas plant.
Groundbreaking for the plant is planned for 2024 and production is expected to begin by 2027.
Premier Doug Ford tried his best to give an indication of how big the plant will be along with the size of the new industrial park.
Elgin-Middlesex-London MP Karen Vecchio called the investment a “really bright day for the community.”
Sean Dyke, CEO of St. Thomas Economic Development Corp. opened his remarks by flashing back in time 15 years.
St. Thomas Mayor Joe Preston praised the efforts of city staff to bring the deal across the finish line.
Canada’s deal with Volkswagen is being hailed as a big win by some industry members.
Flavio Volpe, president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturing Association, says people should focus more on the automaker’s output goal instead of Canada’s promised subsidy amount.
While Canada has pledged 13-billion in subsidies to Volkswagen to secure the deal, the automaker will have to meet 200-billion-dollars in output to secure the full deal.
Volpe also noted the St. Thomas site leaves room for more potential investment from Volkswagen, which is another positive.
