By Michael Elkins
According to a lobbying disclosure acquired by "Electric Autonomy Canada," electric vehicle company Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) is lobbying the Ontario government for a potential new factory. In Canada, companies must disclose all their lobbying efforts with the government.
Tesla made a disclosure last month, outlining a new objective, which partially read:
“Engage with the government and its agencies to identify opportunities for industrial and/or advanced manufacturing facility permitting reforms with the intent to increase the competitiveness of Ontario and its ability to attract capital investment through establishing approvals timeframes that are competitive with high-growth manufacturing locations in North America, while also working with government to identify or align incentives programs that could further increase the attractiveness of Ontario for industrial and/or advanced manufacturing investment.”
Musk had hinted in the past that the company was interested in potentially building a gigafactory in the country. In June, Musk held a company-wide meeting where he told employees, “We are looking at sites, but we are considering some sites options more broadly in North America, so including Canada and Mexico, and the US as well.”
Musk teased a new factory location during Tesla’s annual meeting last week, asking the crowd “Where should we build it?” The crowd shouted a bunch of locations before the CEO responded, “We got a lot of Canada. I am half Canadian, maybe I should?”
Federal minister of Innovation, Science and Education (ISED) François-Philippe Champagne’s office replied to Electric Autonomy Canada’s report with the following statement:
“We know how important the auto industry is for Canada‘s economy and for the hundreds of thousands of Canadians employed in the sector. That’s why Minister Champagne has been tirelessly working to secure the future of Canada’s auto industry, including by bringing more companies into Canada and into the entire EV ecosystem.”
“It’s good to see our government’s investments are gaining attention from automakers and companies from around the world and we’ll continue to do everything we can to make sure Canadians are benefiting from the global shift to EVs.”