Ontario Premier Doug Ford said a report claiming Honda is planning to move some of its production from Canada and Mexico to the United States is "not accurate at all," but an official statement from Honda leaves room for speculation. 

Ford made that statement Tuesday morning after Canada's automobile sector drove back into the federal election spotlight following reports from Japan that Honda is planning to move. 

"I just got off the phone with the president of Honda Canada (Dave Jamieson) and they are sending a statement out, clarifying what Reuters said," he told reporters. "It's not accurate at all. They want to increase production down in the U.S. They are at 100 per cent capacity right now, so they are going to make a statement. I will let them make their statement." 

The Reuters report references a report from the Japanese-language Nikkei newspaper. According to Nikkei, Japan's second-biggest automaker by sales plans to increase U.S. vehicle production by as much as 30 per cent over two to three years in response to U.S. tariffs. Ultimately, the company is planning for 90 per cent of cars sold in the United States to be made in that country, according to Nikkei newspaper. 

Honda Canada said in a statement on its website that it cannot comment on the specifics of this morning's headlines. "However, we can confirm that our Canadian manufacturing facility in Alliston, Ontario, will operate at full capacity for the foreseeable future and no changes are being considered at this time," it reads. "We constantly study options for future contingency planning and utilize short-term production shift strategies when required, to mitigate negative impacts on our business."

Honda has been operating a manufacturing facility in Alliston north of Toronto since 1986, having produced Honda engines and more than 10 million cars and light trucks since then. Last year, the company announced an investment of $15 billion to expand its electric-vehicle supply system.

When asked about his message to auto workers in Alliston and elsewhere, Ford vowed to keep Honda in Ontario.

"I will do everything I can to protect the people and their jobs," he said. 

Liberal Candidate Anita Anand, who also serves as minister of innovation, science and industry, said in a social media post that Jamieson confirmed to her that Honda "remains fully committed" to its operations in Canada and "that there are no plans to shift production elsewhere." 

The fate of Honda drove the fate of Canada's automobile sector, a key industry in vote-rich Ontario, back into the spotlight of federal election campaign. 

Federal Liberal Leader Mark Carney said Tuesday morning while campaigning in Quebec he has been having multiple conversations with executives in the Canadian and global automobile industry. He left it unclear though whether those discussions revolved directly around the Honda report. Other members of cabinet have also been having discussions with industry executives, he said.

"So we are very seized with the issue," Carney said. 

He added that the report points to the "scale of the attack" on the Canadian auto sector as well as other sectors. He added the North American automobile sector is the most integrated industrial manufacturing sector in the world.

"So President Trump's tariffs are an attempt to some degree to pull apart that integration and the benefits that come from that integration." 

On April 3, 25 per cent tariffs on all passenger vehicles and light trucks not made in Canada came into effect. Tariff on auto parts will come into effect no later than May 3. On April 9, Canada imposed retaliatory tariffs on U.S.-made vehicle imports not compliant with the current free trade deal between Canada, the United States and Mexico and "non-Canadian content" in compliant vehicles. 

On April 14, Trump announced that the U.S. is considering exemptions on the auto industry. Canada has since announced automakers can import U.S. manufactured cars and trucks without tariffs, as long as the companies keep making vehicles in Canada.

B.C. Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon, who is coordinating B.C.'s response to the tariffs, said this episode shows that rumours can move quickly in uncertain times. "Unfortunately, President Trump has created this level of uncertainty in the entire world, when it comes to every country's economy, that rumours can like this can move really quickly."