Aird & Berlis Acts for the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development in its Winning Bid for Volkswagen Gigafactory

The Ontario Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade successfully bid for Volkswagen’s first overseas gigafactory. The plant will be built in St. Thomas by a Volkswagen AG subsidiary, PowerCo SE's largest gigafactory to date, with production planned for 2027.

Volkswagen’s multibillion-dollar investment is one of the largest in Canadian history. The plant will create up to 3,000 direct jobs and thousands of indirect jobs, and is a testament to Canada’s strong and growing battery ecosystem and Ontario’s competitive business environment. It also represents a significant step forward as Ontario builds a clean transportation sector to meet global and North American demand for zero-emission vehicles.

Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, who attended Volkswagen’s and PowerCo SE’s announcement event, stated that “Volkswagen’s new electric vehicle battery plant in St. Thomas – the largest manufacturing plant in the country once built – is…a win for workers, for the community and for the economy.”

Aird & Berlis advised the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade on all aspects of the bid, including drafting and negotiation related to corporate, municipal and land use planning, energy, real estate, tax, financing, risk assessment and environmental matters. The Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade’s team was led by Legal Director, Donna Glassman, Deputy Director, Joseph D’Angelo, Counsel, Ikka Delamer and Counsel to the Corporate Commercial and Government Business Portfolio, Claudia Xiao.

Paige Backman led the Aird & Berlis team, which included David Takenaka, Lynn Tay, Ian McLeod and Portia Biswas (Corporate), Leo Longo (Municipal and Land Use Planning), Ron Clark, Ken Clark and Cathy Jares (Energy), Tom Halinski (Property Tax), Leonard Baranek, Kenneth Pimentel and Ethan Eisen (Real Estate), Angelo Gentile and Louise Summerhill (HST), Aaron Collins, Jill Fraser and Jonathan Yantzi (Financial Services), Paula Boutis (Environmental), Heidi Visser, Douglas Younger, Ryan Chalmers and Paul Jachymek (Infrastructure), Norman Kahn (Foreign Investment), Brendan O’Callaghan (Expropriation), as well as Julie Brennan and Jasraj Shergill (Articling Students).