Ontario Industry Minister Vic Fedeli is defending his government’s subsidies for Ford after the automaker on Thursday announced it would start producing its popular F-Series Super Duty truck at its assembly plant in Oakville, Ont., replacing earlier plans to manufacture electric vehicles at the facility. 

“Our goal was always to save the 100,000 jobs,” he said, referencing the estimated workforce across Ontario’s entire automotive industry. 

The federal and Ontario governments gave Ford a combined $590 million in 2020 so it could shift toward EV manufacturing and keep the Oakville facility from shuttering. Ford is spending $2.3 billion updating its facility, but the company has walked back EV production targets amid weakening demand. None of the $295 million Ontario has promised to Ford has yet flowed to the company, Fedeli said, as it is contingent on the company maintaining jobs.  

Audrey Milette, a spokesperson for federal Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne, said Ford had informed the government that it aims to produce an “electric infused” version of the Super Duty within 18 months after Oakville is planned to reopen, at the start of 2026. Ford spokesperson Said Deep declined to confirm the timeline, citing commercial sensitivity. 

Fedeli’s comments come as the Ontario and Canadian governments have injected massive amounts of public funds into the province’s auto sector in a bid to revive the struggling industry and position it for an electric future. 

So far automakers, battery makers and other companies across the EV supply chain have invested $43 billion in Ontario over the last four years, according to the Ontario government. Ford, Stellantis and GM have all announced plans to transition to electric vehicles at their Ontario operations, backed by major public subsidies, while South Korea’s LG and Germany’s Volkswagen have said they are building battery plants in the province.

Fedeli said Ford’s delayed EV rollout is a natural valley in a long and complicated transformation of the automobile. 

“Cars have been built the same way for 125 years, so this is a major shift, and there will always be ebbs and tides along the way,” he said. 

Ford just stopped producing its Edge SUV at Oakville in May, and so the company will have to take time to retool the plant before it starts manufacturing the Super Duty pickup, starting 2026. 

The automaker said it still plans to produce a larger-sized electric vehicle with three-row seating at Oakville, but has not specified exact timelines. On Thursday Ford said recalibrating the plant will let it build a “multi-energy” version of the Super Duty truck. Deep declined to clarify whether “multi-energy” involves hybrid or fully electric technology. 

Lana Payne, president of Unifor, said the union was facing potential layoffs back when Ford first announced the delay of EVs. The decision to bring the Super Duty to Oakville a short time later wasn’t the expected outcome, but a welcome one for workers. 

“This is very good news considering where we were,” she said in an interview. 

As recently as April last year—weeks before the Ford delays—Champagne said electrifying Oakville would make Canada a “global leader in the EV supply chain.” Fedeli made similar comments, while Ontario Premier Doug Ford said Oakville would help the province lead the “electric vehicle revolution.” 

But EV markets have cooled since then, forcing automakers to significantly scale back their electric production targets. After taxpayers covered 25 per cent of the $2.3 billion Ford plans to spend retooling Oakville, the plant will soon produce—for now, at least—gas-guzzling heavy-duty pickups.

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