Canada election: Leaders campaign in Quebec before hunkering down to prepare for debates

Report says Honda considering moving some production out of Canada

Good morning. I’m a senior producer with the Parliamentary bureau’s digital team.

We’re hearing some reaction this morning to a report that Honda is considering switching some car production from Mexico and Canada to the U.S.

CBC News has not independently confirmed that report, which was in the Japanese Nikkei newspaper. The report said the company is aiming for 90 per cent of cars sold in the U.S. to be made locally, in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs on foreign-made autos.

Two federal government sources told our colleague Louis Blouin, Radio-Canada’s Parliamentary bureau chief, that this would be a blow to the Canadian auto industry. Honda has a plant in Alliston, Ont. that is set to expand.

A source also said International Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc and Ontario Premier Doug Ford spoke about the matter yesterday.

But Flavio Volpe, president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association, is downplaying the report, saying it might be contingency planning.

“The Honda news appears to be based on a Nikkei report on two- and three-year contingency planning. The Japanese plan for plans,” Volpe told CBC News Network. “I don’t see Honda in Ontario being affected at the moment.”

Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne spoke with a senior Honda official in Japan, his office said in a statement.

“For the moment, it is not clear that Canadian production could be affected by the company’s decisions,” the statement said. “The minister continues to follow the matter closely.”

We expect the federal party leaders may talk about this this morning. We’ve also reached out to Honda for comment.