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The Nextstar EV battery plant in Windsor, Ont., is controversial for a few reasons.

Firstly, billions of taxpayer dollars have gone into a facility that might be dead on arrival when it is completed due to lack of demand for EV products in general and Stellantis announcing it is no longer putting the pedal to the metal when it comes to EV production.

Another reason this plant is drawing ire is that for some inexplicable reason, an estimated 1,600 South Korean workers are employed there. Think about that: $15 billion in taxpayer subsidies from the federal and provincial governments have gone into this potential white elephant to – employ 1,600 foreign nationals?

Oh and here’s a not-so-fun fact: Windsor’s unemployment currently stands at 11.2%. That’s shocking.

In a statement, Nextstar’s CEO (Nextstar is a joint-venture between Stellantis and LG Energy Solution) Danis Lee said such workers have "proprietary knowledge and specialized expertise that is critical to the successful construction." But Rebel News reached out to workers at the plant and they are calling B.S. on the CEO’s rationale. They assert there are plenty of skilled Ontarians who are being passed over in favour of foreigners. This has even created tensions at the job site between Canadian and Korean workers.

Even Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre weighed in on the situation awhile back, stating: “Now we learn that the $15 billion given to Stellantis will fund mostly jobs for non-Canadians… they will come here, get a taxpayer-funded paycheque, and take it back to their country."

So, what’s new?

How about this: earlier this month, ICE visited a new battery plant in Georgia run by the Korean corporation Hyundai. ICE was on the lookout for illegal aliens from Latin America. Imagine the surprise of ICE agents when they discovered that hundreds of illegal South Korean workers were working at this plant, too.

Is this the case in Windsor as well?

Alas, Stellantis and the Ministry of Labour do not respond to our queries.

Yet, whether one is pro- or anti-EV, how does this plant make sense? It could very well end up as a white elephant — a financial sinkhole funded by your tax dollars and enriching foreign nationals in the process. And what if those foreigners might not even be eligible to work here in the first place!

Seriously, what the hell is going on?