Canada has been hosting discussions this summer on batteries and critical minerals with top trade partners like the chancellor of Germany, and Japan’s trade minister.

A visit from South Korea’s president last week followed suit, and came alongside three new deals between Canadian miners and Seoul-based LG Energy Solution. Ontario Economic Development Minister Vic Fedeli, who recently returned from a trade mission in South Korea and Japan, said the deals show “all that talk is now turned into reality.” 

Here are the highlights of our conversation, with additional annotations by me, edited and shortened for clarity:

    SHIFT: I’m wondering how it’s going with the LG Chem plant in Windsor. That second plant? I know there was some  confusion around energy availability. Were you able to make any progress in your conversations when you were      abroad? 

    FEDELI: We’re very grateful for LG Energy Solution, not only for their plant here in Windsor that’s being developed, but also their new three-year supply agreement. … We have absolutely no issues with energy supply throughout Ontario. Every single prospect that our economic-development office works with, before we ever meet a client, we always ensure through the Ministry of Energy that we have ample power to offer. 

If there are other economic-development offices that don’t follow that protocol, that would be a surprise. … We’re well prepared with the facts.

The context: Stellantis and LG are building a $5-billion battery plant in Windsor, but reports said that Windsor had lost its bid for a second, $2.5-billion LG Chem plant to supply the larger one. It sparked criticism of the Ontario government’s decision to cancel renewable-energy contracts in 2018 amid a likely future power shortage. Capital Power announced plans last week to expand in Windsor to help support the $5-billion LG-Stellantis battery plant that’s already underway. 

     SHIFT: When the federal government went to Asia, they met with Panasonic, which is a Tesla supplier. We’re seeing some [reports] about Tesla lobbying the Ontario government, lobbying the Quebec government. What is the case that’s being made? For an Ontario plant, or Quebec plant?

     FEDELI: We also visited Panasonic and saw their cutaway version of the Tesla. … We met with many companies in South Korea and Japan interested in battery production here in Ontario … and we tried to pitch them, of course. 

We hope to have other companies look at Ontario for anodes, separators, copper foil, all of the pieces of the battery. We’ve got the production of the vehicles themselves. And all of the autonomous and connected investments made by several hundred companies in Ontario. This is the only place in the country that has an end-to-end ecosystem, and that has been acknowledged by virtually every EV proponent that we’ve talked to. That’s been very encouraging. We’ve talked to many and we continue to talk to many.

The context: There’s been growing speculation around Tesla’s plans for Canada, after meetings with Quebec and federal officials, two key Canadian hires, and an offhand remark by CEO Elon Musk that Canada is often suggested as a gigafactory site, as the EV firm makes supply-chain deals. Yet lawmakers (Fedeli included) have not publicly committed to a path forward. 

     SHIFT: It’s been reported that the province is also in talks with Tata Motors. … Any plans to go to India?

     FEDELI: We’ve never made any disclosure in advance of any of our dealings. We operate our ministry in a businesslike way. Incidentally I am going to Germany the week of October 9 … and Austria for various auto shows. And I will be taking my trip to India in November, as I do, for the annual conference. 

The context: There’s a big push for EVs in India’s massive market. To compete with Tata, Indian automaker Mahindra & Mahindra is in talks with global green funds to raise between US$250 million and US$500 million to build EVs. Its subsidiary struck a deal with the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan last week to invest in solar energy. The Canadian Trade Commissioner Service is hosting a virtual event on Oct. 31 about developing the EV supply chain.

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