Here we go again. And they’ve only just begun.Following lavish handouts to Volkswagen and Stellantis, Ottawa and the government of Ontario on Monday teamed up to hand out up to $1 billion in tax dollars for Belgium’s Umicore to build an EV battery parts plant in Loyalist Township in the southern part of the province.The facility, in the Ontario town of Loyalist Township, will manufacture cathode active materials and precursor cathode active materials, federal Innovation Minister François-Philippe Champagne — who made the announcement alongside Ontario Premier Doug Ford — said in a statement.The plant, which is being touted as the first of its kind in North America, will initially employ 600 and have a battery materials production capacity of 35 gigawatt hours annually.The Umicore plant will be built in stages and could be worth $2.7 billion when fully completed. Ottawa will contribute $551.3 million while Ontario will kick in the remaining $424.6 million.Once complete, the plant will crank out enough battery materials to support the production of more than 800,000 EVs per year, Champagne said.Since the start of the year, the Canadian and Ontario governments have handed out $28.2 billion in subsidies to woo battery makers to set up manufacturing plants, mostly in eastern Canada. In September, the country’s budget watchdog said it would take more than 20 years to recoup the monies.By contrast, manufacturers have ponied up just $26 billion in return for those handouts.In his address, Champagne pointed to both those deals as examples of how Canada is becoming a leader in developing full EV supply chains, from minerals to recycling and disposal. .And he vowed more to come.“Ladies and gents, we’re just getting started by the way,” he said. “So just watch us over the next few months and years.”For his part, Ontario Premier Doug Ford vowed “tens of billions more” to come. “We’re revitalizing our automotive sector. We’re just getting started.”Ontario’s auto sector accounts for about 10% of Canada’s GDP — roughly equivalent or even a bit smaller than Alberta’s oil patch — and about 21% of its manufacturing trade with countries such as the US.
