The three Members of Parliament representing Windsor-Essex have put the Liberal government on notice over its new auto strategy.
Prime Minister Mark Carney announced last week that the government was lifting its mandate on electric vehicles, as well as bringing back rebates for consumers who purchase them.
In a joint statement released by Windsor West MP Harb Gill, Windsor-Tecumseh-Lakeshore MP Kathy Borrelli, and Essex MP Chris Lewis, all Conservatives, the government's record on the Windsor-Essex auto industry was taken to task.
"The Carney Liberals have failed to create a low-tax, competitive environment where manufacturers can thrive," read the joint statement. "Instead, they continue to hand out billions in taxpayer-funded corporate welfare, only to watch jobs and production move south in response to the threat of American tariffs. A problem Mark Carney promised he would have a deal on by July 21, 2025."
The MPs also charged that the government has ignored affordability concerns and that electric vehicles are financially out of reach for many hard-working Canadians.
"Canadians have made it clear they are not interested in, and are increasingly priced out of, electric vehicles," read the joint statement. "So far, the Liberals have pledged $52-billion to their idealized EV supply chain, $510 million to the NextStar plant alone. Yet auto manufacturing has plummeted from assembling 2.3-million cars in 2016 to just 1.2-million in 2025."
The MPs also accused Carney of focusing on production elsewhere in Ontario, rather than Windsor.
"After watching one of Windsor’s largest employers divest from Canada and send jobs south, the decision to exclude Windsor from this plan makes one thing clear. The Liberals do not care about the workers and families of Windsor," read the statement. "Rather than ending their corporate welfare and taxes on Canadian-made vehicles, Mark Carney is doubling down on a strategy that has only succeeded in driving auto manufacturing out of Canada."
Carney announced last week that the priority was supporting the Canadian auto industry and reducing its dependence on the U.S. in the face of the current trade tiff. The prime minister added that Ottawa was working with Stellantis, Ford, and General Motors on retooling Canadian assembly plants to handle E-V production.
WindsorNewsToday.ca has reached out to all three of the MPs' offices for additional details. None of them had responded at the time of publication.
-with files from Adelle Loiselle
