A company based in Guelph, Ont. is getting ready for a major expansion despite the threat of tariffs from the United States.
Linamar Corporation announced Tuesday it had reached a $1.1 billion agreement with both the federal and provincial governments. They said the funds will be used for electric vehicle concerns, like EV battery packaging, as well as increasing vehicle range, reducing charging times and semiconductor manufacturing.
The money will not only protect 10,000 existing jobs across Linamar’s current operations, it is also expected to create 2,300 new jobs in Ontario’s automotive manufacturing sector.
“We remain committed to Canada as a manufacturing base because we think Canada is a pretty fantastic place to be manufacturing,” Linamar CEO Linda Hasenfratz said.
Francois-Phillippe Champagne, the Federal Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, was in Guelph for the big announcement on Tuesday.
“Today is more than just an investment,” he said. “It’s a message to the world. Canadian workers are going to step up, the nation is going to step up, and we’re going to be working together to lead this economy into the 21st century because we have everything that the world needs to succeed.”
Ontario’s Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade, Vic Fedeli, was also in attendance.
“Our government is proud to support this expansion with a further $100 million investment through Invest Ontario, our province’s investment attraction agency,” he said.
The commitment comes as U.S. President Donald Trump threaten to impose tariffs on Canadian goods.
“I think these are really important long-term levers to success that manufacturing footprint strategies should be based on, not something as short term as a tariff that can be imposed today and removed tomorrow,” Hasenfratz said.
“There cannot be tariffs without consequences,” Champagne added. “There cannot be tariffs without impact and there cannot be tariffs without higher cost to U.S. consumers and, as Linda [Hasenfratz] said, you cannot retool the supply chain that has been built over a century in North America overnight.”
The combined support from the government is expected to account for $269.7 million, or approximately 25 per cent, of the expected cost of the expansion.
