Industry Minister Melanie Joly is in “regular contact” with Honda Motor Co., her office said, as a Japanese report suggests the automaking giant is halting its plans to construct a $15-billion electric vehicle manufacturing facility in Canada.
That comes as a spokesperson for Honda Canada told Global News that “the content of the article was not released by Honda, and we have nothing to report at this time.”
“American tariffs and changes to U.S. domestic policies are creating real pressures for automakers, prompting some to delay or scale back investments in electric vehicle and battery projects,” a spokesperson for Joly’s office said in an emailed statement, however, they did not clarify whether Honda had communicated any plans to scale back to Ottawa.
“We remain in regular contact with Honda and will continue to put Canadians’ interest first.”
The Canadian government is “in constant contact with all the major automakers” and “that includes Honda,” Prime Minister Mark Carney said.
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There was “no announcement” planned for Wednesday on that front, he added.
Canada’s auto sector was facing “challenges with U.S. tariffs,” Carney said.
“There’s challenges with the U.S. tariffs, unjustified tariffs, in the auto sector,” Carney said.
“We continue to work with companies in the sector, helping them reposition, reinvest, supporting workers there. We’ll continue to do what’s necessary, including getting the right deal that’s in Canada’s interest,” he told reporters in Ottawa Wednesday.
The report that Honda is considering halting its EV plans is “an indictment of the government’s auto policy,” Conservative trade critic Adam Chambers said.
“They put subsidies in the window to lure companies to suggest that they would build electric vehicles here, and that ended up forcing or causing some of the OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) here to move traditional vehicle production outside of Canada and to the U.S.,” Chambers said.
Sluggish demand for electric vehicles in the U.S. has Honda set to freeze plans for the $15-billion EV plan in Canada, Nikkei Asia reported. The project was announced in 2024 and slated to begin production by 2028.
The federal government will “continue to support and protect existing automotive facilities by mitigating tariff pressures and sustaining the production of fuel-efficient vehicles,” Joly’s office said.
The project has already seen delays, with Honda announcing a two-year pause in 2025. At the time, Honda attributed the delay to “slowdown of the EV market.”
Between the battery plant and its parts facilities, along with the electric vehicle facility retooling, the Honda project had been expected to create 1,000 jobs on top of retaining the existing 4,200 jobs at the assembly plant.
Under the original plan, the plant was set to produce up to 240,000 vehicles per year when fully operational in 2028.
Wondering how much of the $15B Honda got up front from the virtue signalling TrudeauCarney Gang. Don’t forget Carney was Trudeau’s chief financial advisor when this was announced in 2024…another one bites the dust!
Everything a liberal politician does turns to absolute dogshit.
Slap a liberal voter
Exactly why I as a FREE Canadian no longer even want to financially support this FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OR ANY MORE OF ITS SPENDING WAYS other then using my tax dollars to actually run this country, not eastern businesses all the time. High time to get out before this government bankrupts all western canadians.
Called that one. Elbows Up crowd tired of the lies, bad decisions, and money pissed away overseas yet? No, because sheep don’t get it. Remove the Liberal dictatorship by any means necessary.
Scumbag liberals
Carney costs Canada another 15B.
Good job !
Impressive negotiator !
After 11 years, it’s still just failure after failure with this clown show of a gov’t.
Trump’s attack on EV and tariff on parts made outside the US has halted companies from expanding…even in the US. He’s the great disruptor of growing economy. He recently stopped work on building mass windmills because it doesn’t fit his oil agenda. Now the blockade in Iran, he also stopped gis own agenda. But hey, let’s blame Carney because we’re a bunch of rightnut idiots.
And being in regular contact isn’t going to change the fact that all these jobs are gone Carney and this Liberal government keep telling us everything is fine when Canadians know better. Blaming the tariffs for everything is hiding the fact that Carney and this Liberal government have done nothing to deal with the tariffs so jobs are being lost in Canada and the economy is going down the drain. The EV sales are showing that people are not buying EVs in the numbers that support the industry and throwing money at it won’t fix it.
Suck it Doug Ford! Elbows up
How can Honda compete since Clown Carney is opening the gates for Chinese EV junk!
Actually it has nothing to do with tariffs, but everything to do with supply and demand. As only 10% of auto sales are EV (and that is with the Liberal rebate), there is very little incentive to invest 15 billion to make cars that will not sell.
Of course Joly and the Liberals are still giving Honda buckets of cash to produce the EV’s that the Liberals want.