A Volkswagen EV battery plant is coming to St. Thomas, Ont., but not everyone's charged up

Businesses and automotive experts in southwestern Ontario welcomed the announcement Monday of Volkswagen's foray into North American electric vehicle (EV) battery manufacturing and what could be the largest facility of its kind in Canadian history.

But there are people living in the area of the future factory who share a different sentiment.

The province says Volkswagen will build a "gigafactory" EV battery manutacturing facility in St. Thomas.

"It's exciting to know that it's actually going to land and that we're not missing out on it," said Brendan Sweeney, managing director of the Trillium Network for Advanced Manufacturing at Western University, a non-profit think-tank that researches Ontario's manufacturing ecosystem.

The deal has been in the works since April 2022, according to government officials. The slow process that culminated in the consolidation of 607 hectares of land on which the plant will be located ended up being an absolute win, said Sweeney.

But not everyone feels as if they're coming away with a victory.

Anette Weesjes, who lives on the land bordering the planned manufacturing site, told CBC News she feels even more frustrated than she originally did when the land next to her home was annexed into St. Thomas in early March.

"We're happy about progress. We think new jobs progress is great, but what about the residents who live right back to back with this?" 

Among Weesjes's principal concerns are pollution, noise and what she called a complete lack of communication from local government officials.

When the land was originally annexed from Central Elgin to St. Thomas, neighbours were caught by surprise, as was Central Elgin's mayor.

Weesjes also wonders why she and other people who live on the surrounding land were the only ones who weren't given an opportunity to sell their property.

"If they're going to spend billions on a factory, how much does it cost to get rid of the other 10 residents? If they're prepared to spend that kind of money on all these properties, why wouldn't they just clean it up and and help out the last 10 residents? It's not farmland. It's residents here sitting right on the edge of it."

'Big grey cloud' over community cleared

While those physically close to the plant's eventual site come to terms with the life-changing announcement, others are looking forward to the new business it's expected to bring.

"We've been rooting for something big like this for a long time," said Blaine Skirtschak, general manager at Messenger Freight Systems.

Skirtschak sees the announcement as a huge victory in challenging times, given the 2008 closure of Sterling, a heavy truck manufacturer, and the following shutdown of the Ford Talbotville Assembly in 2011.

"It was a big grey cloud over our community. Something of this magnitude just puts us back on the map where we belong."

Skirtschak's own company, which neighbours the future EV battery plant, is likely to benefit as well.

Being in the transportation industry, he hopes to leverage his company's exporting experience with both rail and trucking to make them an attractive local business partner to PowerCo, the Volkswagen subsidiary that will run the plant.

"This is a positive story, for once. It's not just a St. Thomas story. It's an Ontario story. It's a Canada story," he said.

The EV battery plant is expected to be operational by 2027. It is not yet known how many jobs will be generated.