The Liberals formed a partnership with Umicore, the company that plans to invest $1.5 billion to establish a net-zero facility in Loyalist Township Ontario to produce essential components of electric vehicle batteries..On Wednesday, Justin Trudeau was joined by the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry François-Philippe Champagne, and Ontario’s Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade Vic Fedeli, to announce "a new world-leading facility to Ontario to produce essential components of electric vehicle batteries."."Through the new partnership, Umicore plans to invest $1.5 billion to establish a net-zero facility in Loyalist Township, ON, which will create 1,000 jobs" during construction and hundreds of permanent positions," the Liberals stated.."This announcement is about creating jobs, cutting pollution, and building a stronger, cleaner economy for Canadians," Trudeau said.."Umicore’s intention to establish its new facility in Loyalist Township is another major step forward as we make Canada a global leader in producing electric vehicles — from minerals to manufacturing. With over 1,000 good jobs to build the plant, and hundreds of permanent positions once it is up and running, this new facility will play an important role in Canada’s clean automotive sector well into the future.”.Headquartered in Brussels, Belgium, Umicore is a circular materials technology company working to reduce harmful emissions, power the vehicles and technologies of the future, and give new life to used metals through recycling. Its new facility in Loyalist Township will be the company’s largest in Canada..The announcement of the partnership marks the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding by the Government of Canada and Umicore, and the start of negotiations toward an agreement for the creation of the new production facility in the Ontario town.."The Government of Canada will continue negotiations with Umicore on federal support for this project," the Liberals stated..The Liberals said since January, Canada secured historic manufacturing deals for electric vehicles, batteries, and hybrids, deals that create and secure thousands of good, middle-class jobs..“Canada and the province of Ontario have all it takes for Umicore to establish a full-fledged, sustainable supply chain for battery materials, all the way from the mine right to the end-market of electric vehicles," CEO of Umicore Mathias Miedreich said.."Once the key customer contracts are in place, this expansion in North America would complete our global rollout of regional supply chains for our automotive and battery cell customers to now three continents. Moreover, we are most grateful to the Canadian and Ontario governments for their support and for their readiness to co-fund this planned project. The facility will help Canada and Umicore in their shared objective of achieving a carbon-neutral battery supply chain.”
