The Ontario and federal governments will each spend $259 million to help General Motors Canada support and transform the company’s Oshawa and CAMI manufacturing plants.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Canada’s Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry Francois-Philippe Champagne made the announcement at the GM plant in Oshawa on Monday.
In a press release, the Ontario government announced it is “supporting a more than $2 billion investment by General Motors of Canada Company.”
The government said the money will also help with improvements across all of GM’s manufacturing and research and development facilities in the province.
“These investments will pave the way for GM’s first electric vehicle (EV) production line in Ontario in Ingersoll and the continuation of vehicle production in Oshawa while ensuring the vehicles of the future are built in Ontario and sold across North America,” the press release reads.
The province said the production of a light-duty Chevy Silverado pickup production, and a third shift will be added at the company’s Oshawa plant.
The government said this will create 2,600 new jobs since operations resumed at the plant.
The release said the investment will also “secure electric commercial vehicle production at the CAMI plant in Ingersoll.”
The government said this means the plant will become GM’s “designated EV hub for its new all-electric commercial vehicle brand BrightDrop,” and will be the first “full-scale electric vehicle production facility in Canada.”
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In the release, Ford called the investment by General Motors a “vote of confidence,” for the province.
He said the move is “more proof that by attracting game-changing investments,” his government is securing Ontario’s auto sector “for the next generation of workers.”
Speaking at the press conference in Oshawa, Ford called the announcement a “huge win for the people of Durham” and for “all of Ontario.”
“We’re making Ontario the best jurisdiction in North America to build the vehicles and batteries of the future,” he said.
Champagne called the announcement “big news for Canada, big news for Ontario and big news for the auto sector.”
He said the investment marks a “new beginning for Oshawa” and for the people of the Durham Region.
He said it’s good news for jobs, economic growth and for “Canada as a whole.”
GM Canada president and managing director Marissa West said working with its government partners, the company has reopened the Oshawa plant, “creating thousands of new jobs and recruiting a record number of women in production roles.”
“This partnership with the governments of Ontario and Canada is helping GM build a more diverse, innovative and sustainable industry and EV supply chain for the future – and we are proud to be doing that right here in Canada,” West said in the release.
Speaking in Oshawa on Monday, Vic Fedeli, Ontario’s minister of economic development, job creation and trade, said the government is “grateful” for GM’s “latest vote of confidence in Ontario’s workers, and for being part of the auto revolution taking place right here in Ontario.”
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