Industry and Technology Committee on Nov. 3rd, 2025

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

I guess people in Windsor are happy with the investments in the battery plant because, as of now, there are 1,000 new jobs that were created, and it's growing to 2,500 jobs.

I just want to make sure that the narrative coming from the Conservative team here is consequential. Do you agree with the investments in the EV battery plant or not?

[Kathy Borrelli, Conservative, Windsor—Tecumseh—Lakeshore, ON]

Of course, we do.

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

Good. That's great.

[Kathy Borrelli, Conservative, Windsor—Tecumseh—Lakeshore, ON]

I just want to make sure that those jobs are secured.

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

Absolutely.

[Kathy Borrelli, Conservative, Windsor—Tecumseh—Lakeshore, ON]

Will you commit to making sure of that for us? Will you commit to ensuring that Stellantis pays back the money we've given them if they don't continue to employ people at the Brampton plant?

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

Kathy, we're on board. We both agree.

[Kathy Borrelli, Conservative, Windsor—Tecumseh—Lakeshore, ON]

I don't see a definite plan. It always seems that the Liberals are pouring money out without a plan and that we don't often see the results we need.

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

Listen, that's easy to say. I'm sorry, but I don't know why we're playing politics here.

We're in a global competition to attract investments. We were able to get an investment from NextStar, which is a joint venture between LG and Stellantis, creating 2,500 jobs in your riding in the wonderful city of Windsor, which I look forward to going to very soon.

This was a pivotal moment for the community. I understand that there's a lot of anxiety and I understand that people in the sector are scared of losing their jobs, but at a time when there is a pressure against the sector, having new investments is fundamental.

We should work together to make sure that we're fighting for the jobs in Brampton while keeping the jobs in Windsor and creating new ones. I don't know why there is a competition between both. I think we can do both.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ben Carr]

Thank you, Minister.

Thank you, Ms. Borrelli. That's time.

Mr. Ntumba, welcome. You have the floor for five minutes.

[Bienvenu-Olivier Ntumba, Liberal, Mont-Saint-Bruno—L’Acadie, QC]

Ms. Joly, there are many challenges ahead, but there's also good news. In my opinion, we should see the glass as half full when it comes to the current situation. We're hearing about 3,000 new jobs in St. Thomas and 1,000 new jobs in Windsor. All this will affect the supply chain across the country. Of course, we're talking about Ontario, but this also concerns Quebec.

Could you elaborate on the impact of these new jobs?

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

These are good jobs. These are union jobs with collective agreements negotiated to benefit the employer and the employees. This brings significant labour peace, which will ensure a predictable business model and more sustainable operations for both St. Thomas and Windsor. However, in Windsor, we aren't talking about 1,000 jobs, but 2,500 jobs, 1,000 of which have just been created. This is good news.

Given the high level of geopolitical tension and the fact that we live in a much more complex and dangerous world, the government's current challenge is to attract investment. It isn't easy. We must provide a number of guarantees to companies looking at the possibility of investing in the United States, Mexico or somewhere else in Europe or Asia. The Canadian government can use various economic development levers by offering money, subsidies and production incentives in order to reduce the risks for companies.

Concerning Stellantis, the government knew full well at the time that it had to find a way to offer this money in order to manage risks while protecting jobs. We knew that, even if we were negotiating in good weather, there might be bad weather ahead. That's what we did. I would add that we must continue to do so.

With this in mind, tomorrow's budget will focus on protecting jobs and building, but also on empowering people to access good jobs and create prosperity for their families.

[Bienvenu-Olivier Ntumba, Liberal, Mont-Saint-Bruno—L’Acadie, QC]

Thank you, Ms. Joly.

You also talked about investments in electric vehicles in your remarks or in one of your responses. Could you elaborate on this for the committee members?

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

I'm glad that you asked me that question. Mr. Ste‑Marie also talked about this earlier.

Quebec and Ontario have a connection in this area. The Quebec government has made significant investments in the battery industry. Unfortunately, some of these investments haven't turned out well for the Quebec government. This hasn't affected us much at the federal level, because we've always tied our subsidies to battery production and sales.

Industrial strategy requires a long‑term vision, according to my colleagues and government officials. I'm involved at the political level. It requires a vision and the ability to weather political storms, as we're experiencing now. That's our vision, and we'll continue to act accordingly. In short, we'll move forward and continue to make the necessary investments.

[Bienvenu-Olivier Ntumba, Liberal, Mont-Saint-Bruno—L’Acadie, QC]

You said earlier that the current situation in the automotive industry shouldn't be taken lightly. Why do we need to stay competitive right now?

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

Right now, 125,000 jobs are at risk in the automotive sector. We need to be able to get through this crisis.

As you know, Ontario has a large manufacturing sector. I would even say that it forms part of the backbone of Canada's economy. The automotive sector is a major part of the manufacturing sector. It accounts for the equivalent of $17 billion of Canada's gross domestic product each year. A weak Ontario economy means a weak Quebec economy and also a weak Canadian economy. That's why we must be able to fight for these jobs.

[Bienvenu-Olivier Ntumba, Liberal, Mont-Saint-Bruno—L’Acadie, QC]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ben Carr]

Colleagues, this brings us to the end of the questions for today.

Minister Joly, thank you for joining us.

Thank you very much, as well, to the officials.

As a reminder, the officials will be sticking around for the second hour, so we are going to briefly suspend in order to allow everybody an opportunity to prepare for the second hour.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ben Carr]

Colleagues, we are going to continue.

A few new individuals have joined us. We have a few new witnesses, so I'm just going to go over the panel again so that everyone is reminded about the witnesses we have with us here today.

We have Philip Jennings, the deputy minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada; Charles Vincent, the senior assistant deputy minister for the industry sector; Stephanie Tanton, assistant deputy minister at Innovation Canada; Denis Martel, director general at Innovation Canada; and Benoit Tessier, the director general in the industry sector.

Colleagues, we will not have opening remarks from our officials. We will go right into our lines of questioning.

Mr. Vis, welcome back to the industry committee. The floor is yours for six minutes.

[Brad Vis, Conservative, Mission—Matsqui—Abbotsford, BC]

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you to the officials for being with us today.

I'm very concerned that two years ago the Government of Canada gave a sweetheart deal to Stellantis. At the time, the Parliamentary Budget Officer implored Parliament to be apprehensive about the contract and the challenges we're facing today. He said at the time that it's very difficult to take into account all of the unknowns that may materialize as a result of the provisions that you, the Government of Canada, gave to this company.

The minister at the time said that the actions they were taking that day, these investments, would lead to a hundred years of new prosperity for the automotive sector.

Mr. Turnbull said that Conservatives were on the wrong side of the green revolution and that these contracts were going to revolutionize—the exact word was “revolutionize”—the way we make cars in Canada. Two years later, we're seeing job losses and we're seeing legal action and we're seeing people whose livelihoods are lost, and that is scary, so I want to touch base upon the NextStar contract today, specifically on adjustments.

When the Government of Canada was negotiating this, it wanted to mimic what was taking place in the United States. I think the contract refers to the AMPC. We were going to tie all of our subsidies and contributions to what the Americans were doing. In fact, the contract is so in favour of ceding sovereignty to the United States that it even talks about how, if Stellantis were to go to the United States, it would allow them to still receive subsidies from Canadian taxpayers.

How was this in the interests of Canadians, and how in good faith can Canadians have confidence that the Department of Industry and the government right now are even negotiating in good faith?

Frankly, I would just like a straight-up answer as well. Was this the worst policy blunder in the history of Canada?

[The Chair, Liberal, Ben Carr]

Mr. Vis, because we have a large panel—

[Brad Vis, Conservative, Mission—Matsqui—Abbotsford, BC]

Those comments are directed to the deputy minister. Thank you, Mr. Carr.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ben Carr]

Okay. That's perfect.

Go ahead, Deputy Minister.

[Philip Jennings, Deputy Minister, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, Department of Industry]

Thank you.

I guess I'll start off by framing that the automotive sector has been and continues to be a very important economic driver for the Canadian economy, contributing $17 billion of GDP last year, 125,000 direct jobs, almost 500,000 direct and indirect—

[Brad Vis, Conservative, Mission—Matsqui—Abbotsford, BC]

We know all that. We know all that.