Only $140 million has been approved through the Ford government's flagship tariff-relief financing program, raising questions about how much of its multibillion-dollar promise to protect Ontario businesses has translated into direct financial assistance.

All five candidates, Navdeep Bains, Stephanie Bowman, Lee Fairclough, Eric Lombardi and Dylan Marando, were asked about mandatory treatment during the second debate of the race, a 90-minute event moderated by CTV Queen’s Park Bureau Chief Siobhan Morris.

Bains, a former federal cabinet minister, is seen as one of the frontrunners in the race, which will conclude in November and comes as the governing PCs have seen some of their weakest poll numbers in recent years.

PowerCo Canada, Volkswagen’s battery subsidiary, announced this Thursday that battery production at its planned $7-billion St. Thomas facility will be delayed by two years, adding another question mark to an EV supply chain that Ontario and Ottawa have spent billions of dollars trying to build.

Treasury Board President Kinga Surma, who was infrastructure minister when Ontario signed and later cancelled the agreement with Elon Musk's SpaceX, declined Thursday to disclose the cost of terminating the deal when repeatedly asked about it by media.