Voyageur 35
News for residents of the “11th province”: Canadians abroad.
Please don’t forget to share, subscribe or send feedback.
Stellantis Sells Windsor EV Battery Stake to LG for $100
Remember all that talk about Canada becoming a global EV battery powerhouse?
Stellantis announced on Friday that it's selling its 49% stake in NextStar Energy - the Windsor, Ontario battery plant that was supposed to anchor Canada's electric vehicle future - to partner LG Energy Solution. The price? One hundred US dollars. Not $100 million. One hundred dollars, roughly the cost of dinner for two.
LG says more than $5 billion has been invested in the facility to date. The fire sale is part of a Stellantis retreat from EVs, with the automaker booking €22.2 billion in writedowns as it scales back electrification plans. LG plans to rejig the plant toward energy storage systems while still supplying EV batteries to Stellantis and other customers.
The collapse comes after Trump's decision to scrap consumer tax credits for EV purchases. LG has already bought out GM's stake in another joint venture in Michigan. The Ontario and federal governments, which poured billions in subsidies into attracting these plants, are watching their bets go sideways.
Read more: The Globe and Mail
Advertisement:
A photo from the old country:
What Stops ICE from Crossing into Canada? Very Little
Here's a question that would have seemed paranoid two years ago: What happens if American ICE agents decide to cross into Canada and grab someone?
Constitutional law scholar Kent Roach, speaking to The Walrus, offered an unsettling answer: legally, very little stops them. If ICE agents crossed the border and snatched someone, the US Supreme Court has already ruled that such "extra-legal" arrests are perfectly valid under American law. The victim can't even sue.
Canadian police could theoretically charge the agents with kidnapping - but that assumes they knew it was happening and chose to act. Canada's courts, Roach notes, have historically been "pretty cautious" about forcing the government to confront the United States. The Charter of Rights doesn't bind foreign officials, even if they're operating on Canadian soil.
ICE maintains field offices in five Canadian cities. They say agents only investigate transnational crime with Canadian partners and carry no firearms or arrest powers here. But with the agency's budget has expanded to $85 billion - making it the highest-funded law enforcement body in the US.
Read more: The Walrus