Goodyear to spend $575M expanding Napanee plant

Ottawa, Queen’s Park provide tire manufacturer with 64.3M in subsidies

- ROBERT BENZIE

The rubber is hitting the road for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier Doug Ford’s electric-vehicle push.

Buoyed by up to $44.3 million in federal subsidies and another $20 million in provincial funding, Goodyear is expanding its Napanee factory to produce specialized tires for EVs and all-terrain vehicles.

Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company said its more than $575-million investment will create another 200 skilled positions in Napanee, 225 kilometres east of Toronto, ballooning its workforce to 1,000 workers by 2027.

Trudeau and Ford boasted Monday that Goodyear’s gambit inflates EV investments to $46 billion across Canada in recent years.

Lured by federal and provincial production subsidies and other incentives, most of that money is coming to Ontario.

“Companies from across the world are choosing Canada. It’s another vote of confidence in Canada’s auto sector workers,” said Trudeau, who is soon expected to match U.S. trade tariffs on heavily subsidized Chinese-made EVs to protect the domestic industry.

The prime minister noted “Goodyear is modernizing its Napanee plant, (which) will create manufacturing jobs, grow our EV industry and use modern technology to keep our air clean.”

Premier Doug Ford and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Goodyear’s expansion inflates recent electric vehicle investments to $46 billion across Canada.