Table set for Honda’s massive bet on Canada’s electric vehicle sector [Video]

When word of Honda’s soon-to-be-announced electric vehicle investment leaked to Bloomberg News on Sunday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford saw an opening to boast about his government’s success in getting into the automotive battery business.

“We’ve overtaken China and knocked them off the pedestal for the first time ever,” he told the First Nations Major Project Coalition conference on Monday morning, referring to Canada’s top spot in a recent global supply chain ranking. “That’s absolutely huge.”

Expect more superlatives when Honda Canada makes its official announcement in Alliston, Ont., on Thursday, as government and industry leaders celebrate the fact that the company behind some of Canada’s most popular models is settling in for the long haul in Canada’s EV sector.

“This may be Honda’s biggest bet anywhere on the planet,” Flavio Volpe, the president of the Automotive Manufacturers Association of Canada, told CBC News. He called it a “double down” on Canada and “an announcement that I think …