Trudeau announces deal for new electric-vehicle battery plant in Ontario

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Ottawa has reached a deal with Umicore, a global materials technology and recycling group, to build a new battery facility in Ontario’s Loyalist Township.

Speaking at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont., today, the prime minister says the facility will supply materials for one million electric vehicles a year.

Trudeau says the new plant will create one thousand jobs while it is being built and hundreds of long-term positions once it is up and running.

He says the government and industry investments are part of a “big bet” that Canada can be a key international player when it comes to electric-vehicle supply chains.