Joly says Honda is still committed to EV investments after $15-billion project delayed

National Observer

15-05-2025

Industry Minister Mélanie Joly says Honda Canada remains "fully committed" to major electric-vehicle investments in Canada after the company announced Tuesday that it was pausing a multibillion-dollar EV project in Ontario.
Joly said in a statement Wednesday that she spoke with Honda Canada's president and CEO, Dave Jamieson, who assured her that "no jobs will be lost."
"He also confirmed that Honda is still fully committed to major EV investments right here in Canada — and we'll work together to make it happen," Joly said.
Honda announced on Tuesday that it has postponed a $15-billion electric-vehicle project, citing market demand, and is shifting some production of its popular CR-V model intended for the US market to its Ohio plant because of tariffs.
The halted investment marks by far the biggest project delay yet in Canada as the outlook for EV growth softens.
Joly told reporters earlier Wednesday that her goal is to ensure the government is in "solution mode."
In a quarterly earnings press conference on Tuesday in Japan, chief executive Toshihiro Mibe said the company will look at where the electric-vehicle market is in two years before deciding whether to keep going with the project.
"What happens after two years and the starting time of the project, we have to observe what is happening and ultimately make the decision," he said, based on translated remarks.
While he cited EV demand for the delay, he said the company's move to shift CR-V production to the US is a more immediate result of tariffs.
"There is room to increase the production capacity in the United States, and we are trying to look into what will happen as a result of that," said Mibe. "In the midterm, if the tariff measures are to be in place for a long time, then we will have to increase our production capacity in the United States."
At a gala dinner Wednesday at the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, Que., to launch the Business 7 Summit, Joly said her first priority is to make sure Canada supports the sectors that are on the front line of the trade war, including the auto sector and the steel and aluminum sectors.
She said Canada needs to continue to protect its jobs and ensure it can attract investments as it deals with uncertainty amid the trade war with the US.
Joly said she will also be on the "offence" and drive economic growth with a prime minister who she says is obsessed with the economy.
"We are in this global competition to attract investments at a time where the world is more complicated, more dangerous," Joly said.
Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne, who was also at the event and spent at least 20 minutes chatting with US Ambassador to Canada Peter Hoekstra, said Prime Minister Mark Carney has challenged the government to be ambitious and have a more resilient economy.
Honda was the second largest auto manufacturer in Canada last year based on the roughly 420,000 vehicles it produced, and the CR-V makes up close to half that total.
Honda Canada spokesman Ken Chiu said the company has no plans to cut overall production or jobs in Canada, and that the company is instead shifting which vehicles go where based on tariffs.
"We're basically swapping export destinations of a small portion of CRVs between our plants," he said by email.
He said the decision to postpone the EV project, which would include a battery plant, a retooled assembly line and two other plants, has no effect on the 4,200 people who currently work at the Honda manufacturing plant in Alliston, Ont.
Honda's decision, affecting plans that were expected to create 1,000 jobs, came as it reported a drop in profits and more on the way because of tariffs. The company said US President Donald Trump's tariffs are expected to cut US$4.4 billion from its operating profit for this fiscal year, largely because it has so many vehicles coming from Canada and Mexico into the US.