Windsor's EV battery plant draws another round of bluster at Parliament Hill

Another Parliament Hill debate over whether to release contract details around Windsor's EV battery plant has ended in a stalemate.

The multi-party standing committee on government operations and estimates had another heated debate about the NextStar plant Monday.

The Conservatives argue that the federal government should release details around the contract with the company. A Windsor-Tecumseh Liberal MP, meanwhile, said there's "too much at stake" to hand out proprietary information. 

Irek Kusmierczyk says there are already clear rules around what's made public. In-camera meetings are allowed for trade secrets or scientific, technical, commercial or financial provisions, he said. So it makes sense that the contract details here be kept under wraps.

"It's important to highlight for Canadians there is absolutely a precedent from the provincial and municipal level," he said during the two-hour debate, which broke at 8:30 p.m. with no action taken.

The plant has made headlines since July. That's when Stellantis, a partner in the plant with LG Energy Solutions, threatened to cancel construction after learning Volkswagen would get billions in federal and provincial subsidies to build in St. Thomas. Stellantis was getting about $500,000 in incentives.

Stellantis resumed construction when the province and feds agreed to $15 billion.

But the project drew attention in November when the Conservatives highlighted that 900 temporary jobs to establish the plant would go to South Koreans staying in Canada short-term. The Liberals countered that the plant's 2,500 permanent jobs would go to Canadians.

Last week, Unifor Local 444 president Dave Cassidy said the issue had turned into "political hay." The South Korean workers have proprietary knowledge, he said.

"It's nothing abnormal, when we build machinery here, that we follow it — whether it's to Asia, whether it's the United States, whether it's to Mexico — to make sure it's up and running." 

On Monday, committee members defeated an amendment and motion to publicly release the contract. 

Then Brian Masse, NDP MP for Windsor West, moved a motion that would see the contract released through the Access the Information process. 

He said the document could not be redacted to exclude the number of foreign workers. His motion also asked for the Access to Information commissioner complete a review. 

"We have become entrenched in a spot that is not going to be helpful to any party organization or Canadians," he said.

Conservative MPs, meanwhile, accused the NDP of flip flopping on their support for making the contract public.

"What a debasement of the right and role of parliamentary committees," Conservative MP Garnett Genuis said. 

Conservative MPs put forward amendments to the motion. But the meeting broke without a vote.