Major Investment Strengthens Ontario’s End-to-End Electric Vehicle Supply Chain
Ontario has secured a $471 million investment by Magna International, one of the world’s largest automotive suppliers, to expand the company’s Ontario operations. With support from the government, this transformative investment will strengthen Ontario’s end-to-end electric vehicle supply chain while adding more than 1,000 new good-paying jobs for workers across the province.
Overview
Magna’s investment will support the opening of a new $265 million EV battery enclosure facility in Brampton later this year. Approximately 560 new jobs will be added in Brampton and to the surrounding region once the facility is at full production. The company will also expand their existing automotive manufacturing facilities across the province. Up to 475 new jobs will be created across Magna’s five other facilities in Guelph, Windsor, Belleville, Newmarket and Penetanguishene. These projects are supported by $23.6 million in funding from the province through Invest Ontario.
A true Ontario success story, Magna started as a tool-and-die manufacturer in Toronto more than 65 years ago. The company has since grown into a multinational automotive supplier with 168,000 employees in 29 countries.
Ontario recently met with Magna as part of a successful trade mission to the United States. The meeting provided an opportunity to showcase the province as an ideal place to invest with a competitive business environment and world-class workforce. Ontario’s automotive sector directly employs nearly 97,000 workers, and indirectly supports hundreds of thousands of jobs.
This investment furthers Driving Prosperity, the government’s 10-year plan to transform Ontario’s automotive supply chain to build the cars of the future, including fully-battery electric vehicles. Over the past two years, the province has attracted $16.5 billion in investments by global automakers and suppliers of electric vehicle batteries and battery materials. This includes more than $12.5 billion in EV and EV battery-related manufacturing investments.
Building Up Critical Minerals Supply Chain for Electric Vehicles
The Ontario government has invested $5.8 million to help junior mining companies explore for critical minerals used in manufacturing batteries for electric vehicles, smartphones, pharmaceuticals and advanced manufacturing technologies. This funding is part of the government’s Ontario Junior Exploration Program (OJEP) to help increase and expand mineral exploration, growth and job creation in the province, particularly in northern and Indigenous communities.
Ontario is investing a total of $12 million over four years for critical mineral exploration in the OJEP. Since the launch of the program in 2021, 32 mining companies have received funding for exploration of minerals such as nickel, copper, cobalt and lithium. These companies have invested an additional $12.8 million in these projects.
The Ontario Junior Exploration Program has funded the following critical minerals mining projects:
- $200,000 to VR Resources Ltd. to complete a drill program with eight holes
- $200,000 to MacDonald Mines Exploration Ltd. to complete a drill program with eight holes
- $200,000 to Tyko Resources Inc. to complete the Tyko Ni-Cu-PGE drilling program, consisting of nine holes
- $172,000 to BTU Metals Corp. to complete a drill program with three holes
- $150,000 to 5007223 Ontario Inc. to complete a diamond drill program with five holes, line cutting activities and an induced polarization (IP) survey
- $71,857 to Transition Metals Corp. to complete an airborne geophysical survey over an area of 363 kilometres
The province is currently accepting a third round of applications for the Ontario Junior Exploration Program. The deadline to apply is March 16, 2023. Details on the application process are available online.
