The NorthVolt AB Labs research and development center in Vasteras, Sweden, on Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2022. Sweden's Northvolt is leading an effort to forge a regional champion that can beat rivals from Asia.Photo by Mikael Sjoberg/Bloomberg

Colby Cosh: The impending implosion of Trudeau's 'win-win-win' EV battery plant deal

Sweden's Northvolt, to which Canada has pledged $2.7 billion, could be headed for bankruptcy

by · National Post

Whirl with me back in time all the way to September 2023, when the federal and Quebec governments announced that they would be partnering with Swedish battery maker Northvolt to plunge headlong into the bright green future. Canada and Quebec would be laying out about $2.7 billion in capital, and more in downstream subsidies, to facilitate the construction of a vast, hypermodern battery plant in the province’s hinterland to help meet the world’s unlimited appetite for electric vehicles, creating thousands of jobs and contributing to global environmental health. “It’s a win-win-win — for workers, for communities, and for the environment,” trumpeted the prime minister. What could go wrong?

Colby Cosh: 'Green slush fund' scandal shows Parliament can't deliver on basicsThis month my attention has been flicking back and forth between two political issues that, considered together, leave me nauseous about the state of Canadian parliamentary government. Well, maybe that’s not quite the way to put it: I feel a weird sense of contradiction, of being pulled in opposite directions. The first is the “green slush fund” story, the tale of the stillborn Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) fund. On Monday our Chris Nardi gave an important update on the bizarre standoff between the House of Commons and the federal public service, which is refusing to produce uncensored background documents on SDTC that were demanded in June by the House.Colby Cosh, 24 Oct 2024