Cabinet decided to disclose the details of its multi-billion subsidy agreement with Volkswagen Canada to MPs. However, this information will be kept secret as the Commons Industry committee also voted to have all copies of the contract shown to MPs destroyed immediately following a closed-door session.. Volkswagen ID4 charging .“It’s about protecting the integrity of the contract,” said Liberal MP Andy Fillmore (Halifax, NS), parliamentary secretary for industry..Cabinet has agreed to pay Volkswagen up to $13.2 billion with another $500 million in Ontario provincial grants to open a battery plant in St. Thomas, ON..The Industry committee, since March 30, has sought terms of the subsidy, one of the largest in Canadian history ever granted to a single company for a single factory..Fillmore said strict secrecy is required..“You could go to the clerk’s office and review them in a safe, secure environment with no phone,” said Fillmore..The committee yesterday adopted a motion by Conservative MP Rick Perkins (South Shore-St. Margarets, NS) that MPs “undertake a study on the federal government’s massive $14 billion investment in Volkswagen” with access to “an unredacted copy of the contract.”.The committee agreed but with conditions proposed by Fillmore that Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne “be invited to appear for a two-hour, in-camera meeting and that during the meeting only committee members and support staff required for the meeting be prepared to attend and that no personal mobile or electronic or recording devices of any kind be permitted in the room during that meeting.”.During the confidential meeting “numbered paper copies of the document are be given to committee members who are present, in person, by the clerk at the beginning of the meeting and that these copies be returned to the clerk at the end of the meeting and that the clerk be instructed to destroy the copies and that no notes be taken out of the room,” said the motion..According to Blacklock’s Reporter, Champagne has repeatedly praised the agreement as historic but refused to detail the specific terms despite repeated requests by the Industry committee..“This is a home run for auto workers in Canada,” Champagne told the Commons on Monday..“This is a home run for the auto sector.”. Francois-Philippe Champagne .“We invest in the sector,” said Champagne..“We have attracted the first car manufacturer in 35 years and the first European one. Let us celebrate.”.Cabinet to date has issued contradictory claims over the scope of the contract..Estimates of direct factory jobs ranged from 3,000 to 8,000. Costs of federal subsidies ranged from $13.2 billion to $13.7 billion..Champagne, on April 20, told reporters that all subsidies would be recovered within five years. He did not explain how the subsidies would be recovered..“That’s a very good investment,” said Champagne..“Talk to any banker, he would say if you get your money in five years for a plant that’s going to be there for 100 years, that’s a pretty good deal for Canadians.”
