Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Quebec Premier François Legault on Thursday announced the construction of a multibillion-dollar electric vehicle (EV) battery plant located east of Montreal.. Electric vehicle .“What happened here today, what we're announcing today, didn't happen by accident, and it won't continue without effort,” said Trudeau..“It's deliberate work in partnership with the government of Quebec that demonstrates that building a strong economy for the future and protecting the environment go together may seem obvious to everyone in the room.”.Swedish Northvolt, one of Europe's largest integrated battery manufacturers, joined Trudeau and Legault to announce the location of the new mega-factory..The plant is expected to create 4,000 jobs and will be located near Saint-Basile-le-Grand and McMasterville, QC, which is 30 kilometres east of Montreal..The plant will be the size of approximately 100 hectares or 75 football fields..Due to offering more favourable financing conditions, Canada secured the deal over California and 70 other jurisdictions, according to François-Philippe Champagne, minister of Innovation, Science, and Industry..The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) is urging the governments of Canada and Quebec to stop the corporate handout after the Northvolt EV battery plant announcement that will receive billions in special taxpayer financing..“It feels like every month Prime Minister Justin Trudeau finds a new multinational corporation to give our money to,” said Franco Terrazzano, federal director of CTF. .“How many billions of dollars are taxpayers going to shell out to fund Trudeau’s corporate welfare obsession? .“Taxpayers should be very worried when the Parliamentary Budget Officer is warning it will take decades to break even on similar corporate handouts.” .The Quebec government is providing Northvolt with up to $2.9 billion in financial support, while the Trudeau government is contributing an additional $1.34 billion in subsidies..Trudeau said the Liberals are building the future of Canada, while Poilievre’s Conservatives want to take Canada “backwards” and a threat to Canada’s future..“Every day, while Canadians are building the economy and the clean jobs of the future with announcements, investments and innovations like this, federal conservatives put it all at risk and want to take us backwards,” said Trudeau..“This is a real threat and we cannot make that happen.”.The project reportedly involves nearly $7 billion in public and private spending, as indicated by several reports..“Could this happen without any external subsidies? Probably yes,” said Northvolt Chief Operating Officer Paolo Cerruti. .“The government of Quebec has a terrible record of waste when it hands out corporate welfare and it needs to stop,” said Nicolas Gagnon, Quebec director of CTF. .“Quebec is a proud province and we should be able to compete without needing to pay businesses to set up shop here.”.For a future potential expansion, Northvolt bought nearly double the amount of land required for the project..Residents surrounding the plant location are concerned about the noise and pollution from the EV battery plant..They submitted a 700-signature petition to the McMasterville municipal council to block the EV battery plant..The Trudeau government has already given out more than $30 billion in subsidies to EV battery plants in 2023..The Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) released a report indicating that government subsidies to other EV battery manufacturers will not generate a return on investment for many decades. .“The break-even timeline for the $28.2 billion in production subsidies announced for Stellantis-LGES and Volkswagen is estimated to be 20 years, significantly longer than the government’s estimate of a payback within five years for Volkswagen,” said the PBO.
