The Conservative MPP for Windsor-Tecumseh says there was a lot of competition for the latest auto investment in Windsor.
It took over a year of work, but Andrew Dowie says the province is grateful Minth Group chose Windsor to build its newest manufacturing facility, which is being supported by a loan of up to $40 million through the Ontario government's Invest Ontario Fund.
"I'm sure there were some very, very lucrative offers made to Minth for this plant, and they chose us. Grateful for it. I don't believe we were alone in this one; there were other jurisdictions," says Dowie.
Minth Group announced Thursday it will invest $300 million to build a 379,415 sq. ft. manufacturing plant on 54 acres of surplus land at the Windsor International Airport.
A total of 1,100 jobs will be created as part of phase one of the planned multi-building manufacturing campus on land at 5000 Cabana Road East at the Eight Concession.
Dowie says there were other jurisdictions vying for this investment.
"We can offer a company exactly what it needs. We have energy, and we have transportation infrastructure that is not clogged up here. We have the new bridge, the new hospital, and lots of investment. We're going to keep at it and land every possible opportunity we can for our region and the province of Ontario," he says.
The initial facility will manufacture battery casings for the electric vehicle sector, while additional phases are expected to focus on exterior and structural automotive parts, potentially creating hundreds of more jobs.
"There's absolutely a lot of competition. I appreciate that we were at the top of the list, but ultimately the finances have to work too. We were successful at making the case at the provincial level, and I'm grateful, grateful that Minth chose Windsor-Essex as its home here in Canada," he says.
Minth Group's customers include Nissan, Honda, Toyota, Hyundai, Volkswagen, BMW, and Mercedes.
The City of Windsor is also supporting the investment through the City's Community Improvement Plan.
The Minth facility is being constructed by Rosati Construction, creating around 200 construction jobs.
No federal funding was included in this investment.