Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford says if re-elected, he will honour the province's commitment to the electric vehicle sector should U.S. President Donald Trump end a subsidy program.
Trump has said the U.S. does not want or need Canada's cars despite signing a free trade deal with Canada and Mexico in his first term.
Ford's government agreed to an auto pact with the federal government in 2023 to pay one third of production incentives in a deal with Volkswagen and Stellantis and LG Energy Solution for their EV battery plants.
The two governments ponied up the money in order to compete with former U.S. president Joe Biden's Inflation Reduction Act, which included a tax credit for clean vehicle purchases.
Trump has frozen funding under the IRA and has threatened to end it altogether.
Ontario voters will head to the polls Feb. 27.
-- With files from Allison Jones in London.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 30, 2025.