Prime Minister Stephen Harper is expected to announce that Ottawa will provide 250-million dollars for car companies and suppliers as part of the Automotive Innovation Fund.

 Harper will visit the Ford plant in Oakville today to announce a renewal of the five-year fund, established in 2008.

Government sources have said the fund has helped to generate 1.6 billion dollars of research-and-development and innovation projects.

They add Ottawa is renewing the fund to help the auto-manufacturing sector remain competitive and protect close to half a million direct and spinoff jobs linked to the auto industry.

But the renewal of the program comes amid a controversy over whether the government should continue to fund the Big Three after G-M announced it was moving production of the Camero from Oshawa to Michigan in 2015