Ottawa (AFP)
The government of Justin Trudeau and that of Ontario announced Thursday an investment of 590 million Canadian dollars (380 million euros) in a project which is to make a Ford plant in this province "the largest" of North America for the manufacture of electric vehicles.
Ottawa and Toronto will each invest $ 295 million in this project of the American manufacturer estimated at $ 1.8 billion to transform the assembly plant located in Oakville, west of Toronto.
"There is a growing demand for electric vehicles and Canada has the potential to be a leader in the manufacture of batteries for these vehicles, electrification and clean energy," said the Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at a press conference.
In addition, this investment will allow the Canadian automotive sector to achieve the goal of zero net greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, according to Mr. Trudeau who said that "the automotive sector and the environment are therefore coming out of it. both winners ".
The investment should make it possible to maintain 5,400 jobs at Ford Canada, including more than 3,000 in this plant, according to the American group which claims the place of the first automobile manufacturer in Canada.
"Today's announcement represents the largest investment in the automotive sector in Ontario in over 15 years. This is a historic moment," said Ontario Premier Doug Ford.
According to him, Oakville will be "the largest electric car manufacturing plant in North America".
This announcement is a breath of fresh air for Ontario, where automakers Chrysler and General Motors have announced nearly 4,000 layoffs over the past year.
In 2019, Ford also announced the cut of more than 650 jobs among the 4,100 employees at the Oakville plant.
According to Statistics Canada, 1.9 million new vehicles were registered in the country last year.
Sales of electric vehicles, which account for around 2% of the total, have jumped almost 40%.
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