Securing Corridors and Handouts
Bill 100, Keeping Ontario Open for Business Act, was introduced in the Legislature just two days before an announced $5.2 billion dollar future investment by Stellantis, the current owner of Chrysler, in partnership with the South Korean conglomerate LG, to build an electric vehicle battery plant in the riding of Windsor-Tecumseh. Other related investments have since been announced.
The two aspects — securing of the north-south transportation corridors and the handouts of public funds to these global monopolies — are directly linked. This can be seen by the emphasis put by the government on having the new battery plant fed by an all-Ontario supply chain starting with minerals mined in the north.
The fate of auto workers and the region is said to lie with the transition to an electrified green economy, but without the workers and their communities having any say or control over that. Everything is decided behind closed doors with global oligopolies calling the shots, then announced with great fanfare so there can be no dissent or even discussion about who the arrangements that have been put in place favour, and why they are needed.