Prime Minister François Legault did not respond to questions about whether he still believed in the Northvolt project in Quebec on Wednesday, while in Ottawa, the federal Minister of Industry, François-Philippe Champagne, continued to post cautious optimism in the matter.
Posted at 12:29 p.m.
Updated at 1:06 p.m.
Stéphane Blais
The Canadian Press
Even if the Swedish company has maintained in recent weeks that its factory project in Montérégie will come to fruition, several reports suggest that it is experiencing serious financial difficulties.
Northvolt is even considering filing for bankruptcy protection, according to some media, including the Reuters news agency.
In Quebec, a journalist questioned Prime Minister Legault on the subject in the corridors of the National Assembly on Wednesday morning.
She asked the Prime Minister if he had “suggested that he no longer believed in the project” of Northvolt.
“I just said that I was waiting for information,” said François Legault.
When asked by The Canadian Press if he had received the information in question, the Prime Minister curtly replied “no”.
Later, during question period, the leader of the official opposition, Marc Tanguay, noted that his opponent was dodging questions on the Northvolt file.
“Not a word about Northvolt, 710 million of the money of Quebecers who pay taxes and who send it to Quebec with the sweat of their brow, 710 million, not a word about Northvolt. »
Caution and confidence
In Ottawa, the federal Minister of Industry, François-Philippe Champagne, repeated the words “caution” and “confidence” several times during a press scrum.
PHOTO PATRICK DOYLE, CANADIAN PRESS ARCHIVES
François-Philippe Champagne
We must exercise “caution, as I said regarding the information circulating, because there is a lot of it,” indicated Minister Champagne.
“But also confidence, because in the long term, I think it is in the economic, strategic interest, not only of Canada, but also of our European partners, to have a North American battery factory” because that “the largest market for motor vehicles is here, in North America”, he repeated, thus suggesting that he assumes that the Quebec activities of Northvolt will be spared, despite the financial difficulties of the ‘business.
“What happens in Europe is one thing, what happens in North America is another thing,” the minister added, echoing recent comments from Northvolt North America CEO Paolo Cerruti .
Three weeks ago, during a speech at the “International Conference on Advanced Lithium Batteries for Organized Automotive Applications”, he admitted that the Swedish company was going through a “difficult” and “crucial” period.
He repeated that Northvolt is in Quebec “to stay”, but indicated at the same time that we did not know how the restructuring of the Swedish company would affect the factory’s projects in Montérégie and its schedule.
In September, Northvolt announced the dismissal of 1,600 employees in Sweden, or a fifth of its workforce, illustrating the financial difficulties facing the company.
Recently, the company also sold its site in Borlänge in Sweden, where it was to build a factory for materials for cathode, the positive terminal of a battery.
