Doug Ford pledges to turn Ontario into ‘auto manufacturing powerhouse’ driven by minerals from Ring of Fire – by Kris Ketonen (CBC News Thunder Bay – January 23, 2023)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/

Premier discusses Ontario’s critical mineral strategy, plans for EV production during ROMA speech

Companies that want to extract Ontario’s critical minerals to make EV batteries will also need to open factories in the province, Premier Doug Ford said Monday.

Speaking at the Rural Ontario Municipal Association’s (ROMA) annual general meeting, Ford said northern Ontario boasts deposits of 34 of the “most critical minerals the whole world wants.” “Everyone’s here wanting to get the minerals,” Ford said. “I have one condition.

I’m sure each and every one of you agree we should never ever ship our critical minerals, no matter if it’s a lithium or cobalt or graphite or nickel, over to other countries so they can produce batteries in their country, and ship [batteries] over to Ontario. It doesn’t work that way.”

Rather, Ford said, under the provincial critical mineral strategy, companies would be required to also manufacture the batteries in Ontario. “You can have our lithium, as long as you’re manufacturing the batteries here,” he said. “We’re going to build the cars of the future right here in Ontario.”

For the rest of this article: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/ford-critical-minerals-1.6723350