Mr. Speaker, with respect to key milestones, it was announced on March 13, 2023, that Volkswagen and its subsidiary PowerCo will establish an electric vehicle battery manufacturing facility in St. Thomas, Ontario, making it the company’s first overseas battery cell plant. This news was shared on the Government of Canada’s website, found here: https://www.canada.ca/en/innovation-science-economic-development/news/2023/03/canada-and-ontario-welcome-historic-investment-from-volkswagen.html.
On April 21, 2023, the Prime Minister announced that Volkswagen would be investing $7 billion Canadian toward this project, which is the largest electric vehicle-related investment in Canadian history. Construction of the plant is expected to begin in 2024. Once completed in 2027, the plant will produce batteries for up to one million electric vehicles per year. Additional details on this announcement were shared on the Prime Minister of Canada’s website, found here: https://www.pm.gc.ca/en/news/news-releases/2023/04/21/volkswagens-new-electric-vehicle-battery-plant-will-create-thousands.