On the one hand, there's a very strong push to reduce car usage. In Paris, the speed limit has been reduced to 30 km/h, 50 on the ring road, many lanes and parking have been removed to improve bike infrastructure. Then, when sales drop and jobs are on the line, those same people are absolutely shocked.

Now, personally, I'm all for reducing traffic in cities. I'm not particularly keen on breathing exhaust all day every day or getting run over by two tons of steel. Sure, a whole debate can be had on specific use cases, people living where there's no public transit, etc. But my point is that you can't, on the one hand, push for something, then be angry when you obtain the consequences.

Up until a few years ago, there was a very hard push for diesel engines. Local companies invested a lot in those. Now these engines are practically banned, and even gasoline ones aren't faring too well. So, automakers have to scramble to move to electric, but it takes time. While other companies, built from the ground up to this, already have models head and shoulders above what we can produce. And politicians, true to nature, come up with all kinds of weird incentives. They've recently introduced a weight tax on vehicles [0]. On the face of it, it's an "SUV-tax" to limit "gas-guzzlers". Cue surprised faces when they realize a Tesla weighs as much as an SUV (I'm talking European models here, so no absurd Escalades or what have you).

[0] This is France, so laws have exceptions. Electrics get an "allowance", which basically reduces the mass considered for the tax. But it's not entirely clear how that works. Ditto for hybrids.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Carney

The old integrated cross-border auto manufacturing system is over. Stellantis is already moving production of Jeep from Brampton to Illinois, and others are expected to follow.

We could and should further diversify by removing whatever barriers are keeping European cars out.

Second, I don’t buy your fear mongering about China. There’s not much fundamentally different about China and western nations in 2025. They’re a capitalist society prioritizing growth at all costs, same as every other western nation. China is not interested in war, and has stated that consistently over the years.

Third, as far as “critical manufacturing supply chains” go, extremely inefficient luxury personal vehicles don’t fit that definition.

How do you feel about integrating your manufacturing base with a nation that opposes the fundamental values of our nation, and constantly fantasizes about annexing our nation?

Unless you're arguing for Canada to make its own EV manufacturing industry independently from both China and America?

Unfortunately, it's not 2000s/2010s anymore, and rules of the game have changed. Most countries realize that there is a future that's not purely Pax-Americana (including USA as well). Sovereign nations will choose what's best for them and their future, especially in the cases of a neighbouring bully.

and instead dependence on the U.S.?

My anger lies with the neoliberal elites not the Chinese. The elites can go die on the battlefield. Its their mess.

China has significant climatic variation, and Harbin (for example) at around 45 degree latitude is right in line with Montreal.

https://english.news.cn/20230712/a56c80cac8e749f0bcf02579463...

None of the 4 biggest Canadian cities have EVER had -40C temperatures. No, wind chill does not count.

In fact, most years they’re not even getting to -30C, and if it does happen it’s only for 1 to 2 days. The rest of the time you’re dealing with average -10C, which China also regularly deals with. But guess what, even if you can’t use your EV one day out of 364 days that’s not that big a deal. Most people should just stay home that day.

The source is I’m Canadian and lived in Ottawa for a decade.

Edmonton, where I'm actually from, has had record lows of -40, but these are extreme outliers. When people speak of -40 in Edmonton they mean wind chill, not real temps. Look at a scatter plot of actual temperatures in Edmonton and it's really not the drama you're implying.

Cold climate is not the barrier to EV adoption. Pricing (and politics) is. Anywhere in the world where EVs have been price competitive to ICE vehicles, consumers have preferred them.

There are political / economic interests in Canada (and North America generally) that absolutely do not want EV adoption. One would expect that from an oil&gas producing nation. Doesn't mean that reasonable people who understand that climate change is an actual thing should support this position.

If you're not plugged in, your EV should be using its stored energy to keep the battery alive, which it can do for several days.

But also by its political right, and at least one of its national newspapers which is continually running anti-EV FUD. Not the least because our second largest sector in the country (after manufacturing) is oil&gas, and the energy sector is the most powerful political-economic block in the country and the source of ideological power & influence in the western half of the country.

Similar tensions in the US.

There are active disinformation campaigns about EVs running constantly, and if you follow the money it always ends up back at the petroleum sector.

It's not clear from that sentence who you mean, so I was clarifying.

I drive a Polestar2, a Chinese (Geely) produced EV. The quality is good. The price for what it is... too high. And now most support for it is being dropped and sales networks in North America drying up because of these tariffs and political moves.

How I'd love to see Geely set up a plant here.