Tesla steps up lobbying effort with Ontario, Ottawa to set up a ‘manufacturing facility’

Canada’s ambitions of becoming an electric-vehicle powerhouse are being newly fuelled by interest from Tesla Inc. TSLA-Q in locating a major manufacturing facility in Ontario.

While rumours of such an investment by the pioneering EV maker were kick-started last week by CEO Elon Musk’s offhand remarks during a shareholders’ meeting, an apparent recent shift in the company’s lobbying efforts offers more substantive evidence of the possibility.

Tesla’s engagement with Canadian governments to date has mostly been focused on policies to drive EV demand among consumers, such as the build-out of charging infrastructure.

But its filing with Ontario’s lobbyist registry was updated in late July to include requests for changes to speed up permitting processes and boost…