China has emerged as a blockbuster producer of electric, or EV, vehicles. So much so that they can get one into your driveway for as low as $18,000 Cdn. What a steal! And they aren’t even crap, in case you’re thinking that. They actually have technology that would make North American car-makers blush, so that old bird don’t fly in this case.
So why aren’t more Canadians buying these things? Why are Canadian roadways not awash with Chinese EV’s similar to when the Japanese, and then Koreans, entered our market and took it by storm back in the 1970’s and 1980’s.
It probably has a lot to do with the 100% tariff the Canadian government has slapped on these vehicles, the intention being to specifically prevent them from entering our market.
Say what? The Canadian government is purposely inhibiting our freedom to choose whatever vehicle we want? Oh my God, get out the battle flags and fire up the big rigs! We’ve got ourselves a convoy! Okay, maybe a little dramatic there, but it was fun to say.
If you’re thinking this is just another freaking thing coming down the pipe from that freaking prime minister and his freaking socks, well, sorry to disappoint. Politicians from all parties support this tariff, including the one you’re going to vote for. Apologies for wrecking your day.
What this also means is that the Canadian rollout of electric vehicle infrastructure will continue its slow yet steady pace, but that slowness will have an impact on the environment and the amount of carbon we belch into the atmosphere. I fully recognize that this may not resonate with everyone. Deniers of climate change are surprisingly large in number, and are often people who, when overwhelmed by something, simply opt to pretend it doesn’t exist. That flaw may be one of the reasons why they find themselves at their current position on the social ladder. But I digress.
Also, our EV infrastructure will build-out at a slower pace, an inconvenience to those who have already purchased or intend to purchase an electric vehicle.
So in the interim, until our own home-grown efforts ramp up to match the Chinese — we’re well behind — Canadian consumers will have to pay big bucks if they want to get into the EV game. Most of these types of vehicles start at the $100,000 point, so there’s that. The least expensive would likely be the Fiat 300e which retails at $40,000 to start. Plus, it’s so small you can’t even fiat.
So why the tariff?
Well, let’s begin with the many billions of dollars governments, federal and our own provincial here in Ontario, have invested in EV development and infrastructure, from mining the critical materials, producing the batteries, and building the cars, all right here in Canada. An investment that will make Canada an EV giant when it comes fully to fruition.
There are lots of jobs at stake here, well-paying union jobs, and those workers will have the kind of disposable income that the economy needs. They’re also good old-fashioned middle-class jobs, something that’s becoming more of a scarcity as the rich get richer and everyone else can go whack some salt.
More jobs are to be found in the tangential or tertiary industries that will pop up to support and take advantage of the emerging domestic EV climate, a veritable hot-house of capitalism and entrepreneurship. Canadians earning Canadian money buying Canadian cars, shopping at Canadian businesses and paying Canadian taxes. How many ways can you spot a win?
So, in a nutshell, we’re prohibiting the Chinese from setting up shop here, because their presence will put all of this effort at risk.
Another reason offered up for the denial of the Chinese to our market has to do with that nation’s proclivity towards espionage, data theft, data manipulation, and general shit-disturbing. I’m speaking of the Chinese Communist Party here and political China, not ethnic Chinese.
We don’t want to be happily driving about in our Chinese cars while the Chinese themselves are spying on us and thieving our personal data right out from under our noses. I mean, who wants that, right? I recently bought a $20 “smart” watch on Temu, about as Chinese as the Great Wall. I was met with the predictable “the Chinese commies are spying on you” argument from my Apple Watch friends, no doubt pissed that I have a watch that does everything theirs does but at 5% of the cost. And, full disclosure, I have no Apple Watch friends, but still, if I did, you could just hear them squawking up a storm.
If the Chinese are intent upon spying on me, I can only feel for the poor bastard back in Chengdu tasked with following me and my pathetic little life. I can just see the guy — maybe it’s a girl — slumped over the computer monitor and struggling to stay awake lest they be trundled off to whatever the Chinese call gulags these days.
As much as I’m positive that the CCP is embedding spyware in our electronics, to me the biggest threat still comes from the nefarious Chinese, but in a different way. Imagine us, Canada, getting into a heated dust-up with China. Imagine it getting to the point where they feel they need to cripple us. Yes, they’ll attempt to shut off our lights and power, sew mayhem in the streets, stop buying canola oil, the whole nine yards. And then, in a stunning piece de la resistance, they hit the switch that kills all our Chinese cars right there on the spot. Picture yourself stranded on the road with Pierre Poilievre and you get my point. There’s no slogan ever made that’ll get you out of that jam cleanly.
So, I guess we’ll just have to be patient. I’d love an electric vehicle, but that Fiat may have difficulty absorbing my 6’4” frame, unless I really recline the driver’s seat and find my head in the ass-end of the thing, just like navigating a toboggan down the road. So I’ll wait.
I’ll do it for Canada and Canadians. And to keep the Chinese out of my business.
NEWSMAGRENFREW 