Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I want to say thank you to my colleague from Windsor West for bringing forward a really thoughtful motion here, a change to an amendment that eliminates a lot of the disinformation, misinformation and the politics and the games. That really was my primary concern: that we keep the games, the politics, and the misinformation about this important discussion we're having about these investments.... I just wanted to say thank you to my colleague from down the street, from Windsor West.
I want to sing from the rooftops the story of investment in Canada in electric vehicles and battery plants. This is such a great story that I can't wait to share it with Canadians.
You look at the last three years of investments: $30 billion in investments. The Stellantis battery plant, which is the first battery plant in Canada, is but the first battery plant, and the first major investment of $5 billion. You look at the Volkswagen investment just up the 401 in St. Thomas: $7 billion and more than 5,000 jobs created.
Look at Northvolt, which is a Swedish company, investing in Montreal, with $7 billion and 3,000 jobs; at Umicore, again, close to a $3-billion investment and 1,000 jobs in Kingston; and at GM-POSCO, again a $600-million investment in Quebec. Again, you can look at General Motors in Oshawa, with $1.28 billion and 1,000 jobs; at Honda in Alliston, with $1.35 billion; and at Ford in Oakville, with $1.84 billion.
Mr. Chair, that's $30 billion plus in investment in automotive in just the last three years, and tens of thousands of jobs, not just in Windsor but up and down the 401 in Ontario and Quebec, and in Maple Ridge, British Columbia—all across the country. This is what happens when you have a federal government making big investments, partnering with workers and partnering with industry.
This is what happens. I get that the Conservatives want to cast shade on this good-news story. They want to cast shade and doubt, and I get it, because they don't want to remind Canadians that when they were in government they lost 300,000 manufacturing jobs in Canada. When the Conservatives were in power, they let 300,000 manufacturing jobs walk out of our country. That's 300,000 and—