OTTAWA, ON: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is calling on the federal and British Columbia governments to abandon their multimillion-dollar handout to the multinational battery company E-One Moli. 

“Taxpayers are struggling and our governments shouldn’t be choosing to help corporations instead of ordinary Canadians,” said Carson Binda, British Columbia Director of the CTF. “Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s latest corporate giveaway will cost taxpayers hundreds-of-thousands of dollars per job.” 

The federal government has earmarked $204 million for the construction of an E-One Moli battery plant in Maple Ridge, B.C., while the provincial government will contribute $80 million. 

The facility “will create up to 350 new jobs and secure over 100 existing positions,” according to a news release from the Prime Minister’s Office. That means taxpayers will be on the hook for more than $632,000 per job. 

“In the past few months alone, we’ve seen Trudeau give buckets of cash to corporations like Volkswagen, Stellantis, the Ford Motor Company, Northvolt, Umicore and now E-One Moli,” said Franco Terrazzano, CTF Federal Director. “Instead of raising taxes on ordinary Canadians and handing out corporate welfare, governments should be cutting red tape and taxes to grow the economy.”

The PBO published a report showing government handouts to other battery manufacturers won’t break even for decades.

“The break-even timeline for the $28.2 billion in production subsidies announced for Stellantis-LGES and Volkswagen is estimated to be 20 years, significantly longer than the government’s estimate of a payback within five years,” the PBO said.

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