Northvolt says it’s going ahead with its Montérégie plant, but several reports suggest the company is experiencing financial difficulties.
Premier François Legault refused to say whether he still believes in Northvolt’s Quebec project on Wednesday, while in Ottawa, federal Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne remained cautiously optimistic.
Although the Swedish company has maintained in recent weeks that its Montérégie plant project will go ahead, several reports suggest that it is experiencing financial difficulties.
Northvolt is even considering filing for bankruptcy protection, according to some media, including the Reuters news agency.
Asked Wednesday whether he had “implied that he no longer believed in the Northvolt project,” Legault said he is “waiting for information.”
During question period at the National Assembly, Quebec Liberal Party Leader Marc Tanguay said Legault was dodging questions.
“Not a word about Northvolt, 710 million of Quebecers’ tax dollars that are sent to Quebec City by the sweat of their brow, $710 million, not a word about Northvolt,” he said.
In Ottawa, Champagne repeated the words “prudence” and “confidence” several times during a press scrum.
We need to be “cautious, as I was saying about the information that is circulating, because there is a lot of it,” Champagne said.
“But also confidence, because in the long term, I think it’s in the economic, strategic interest, not only of Canada, but also of our European partners, to have a North American battery plant” because ‘“the biggest market for motor vehicles is here, in North America,” he said, suggesting that he assumes Northvolt’s Quebec operations will be spared, despite the company’s financial difficulties.