By Ray Rivers
January17th, 2026
BURLINGTON, ON
Could the colour be the reason the model isn’t selling?
At least their electric vehicles (EVs) are coming. And Doug Ford is making a fool of himself again, ranting about something he knows so little about. First of all, 49,000 EV’s a year is less than 3% of Canada’s total new car sales. Second, Canada doesn’t currently produce any fully electric cars, except for one obscure Dodge sports performance car which nobody seems to be buying.
So, Doug Ford is wrong again. Ontario based vehicle manufacturing will not be impacted by these imports. But then isn’t this the same Doug Ford who spent his first term trying to indirectly kill EV sales. Didn’t he end the purchase subsidy; tear out the GO parking lot EV chargers and remove the requirement for EV charging wiring in new homes.
Ready for loading into containers heading for Canada.
These Chinese cars, if they are as good as we hear, might help stimulate the EV market which has fallen off the cliff – some 43% decline so this past year. And that would help us meet our carbon emission targets painlessly. That sales decline is largely due to three factors. First, the federal subsidy, which at $5000 was more symbolic than a real incentive, ended this year.
The Donald Trump effect.
Second, there is virtually every US regulatory initiative to go electric has been halted in Trump’s new drill-baby-drill America. Tesla, whose EV sales had made it a household brand name and woken up the rest of the industry, crashed once Americans saw Musk in full Trumpian DOGE action. And embarrassed Canadian Tesla owners then lined up to disown their EV’s in response to Trump’s economic war.
Third, and perhaps most important is the challenge of on-road charging. Charging at home is typically plug and go – easy peasy and cheap. And to charge a Tesla at a commercial pump, you just plug-in and the charger automatically debits your bank card held on your account and regulates the charge to protect your battery and auto… and wishes you a nice day. But for non-Tesla owners it’s an uncomfortable bun fight when you travel.
Security is the biggest question mark with Chinese vehicles. Chargers require access to your car’s info system to regulate electron flow and to establish payment. That means they typically interact with your personal account information. Chinese cell phone systems had been banned here only a few years ago for that reason.
The answer is to develop a single charging network with tight regulatory guard rails to protect us all. Trudeau had given every new EV owner $5000. He would have been smarter to have used that money to build a national secure and reliable charging network across the country. It’s still not too late to do that. Perhaps Mr. Carney should add that to his wish list of big build projects.
Canola being stored, ready for shipment come March 1st. Some Canadian canola farms are more than 2450 acres in size. This is big business.
This deal – tit-for-tat tariff trade restriction removal – with China is a win-win. It’s a win for the canola and pork producers and a win for those folks wanting to affordably buy their way into the clean car crowd. But most of all its a big win for Canada and its future. After all China has never threatened to invade or annex Canada.
There is much we may not like about the Chinese approach to human rights but then we just need to look at what is evolving south of the border. And the USA used to be Canada’s best friend and ally. China’s BYD has apparently made vehicles for Stallantis. We can only they will start building EV’s in the recently retooled empty Chrysler Brampton facility.
Ray Rivers, a Gazette Contributing Editor, writes regularly applying his more than 25 years as a federal bureaucrat to his thinking. Rivers was once a candidate for provincial office in Burlington. He was the founder of the Burlington citizen committee on sustainability at a time when climate warming was a hotly debated subject. Ray has a post graduate degree in economics that he earned at the University of Ottawa. Tweet @rayzrivers
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I should have added “We respect the differences in each other’s systems”.
This is Mark Carney indicating that no matter how the Chinese Government treats its citizens and foreigners is fine.
Guess he forgot about the 2 Michaels, who are Canadian citizens that were imprisoned for 2 years as retaliation of Huawei’s Meng Wanzhou’s house arrest in her mansion in Vancouver.
” April 2205 – The greatest threat to security is China (Carney at Debate)”.
” I wasn’t a member of the government at that time, it wasn’t my views” – Carney indicating that he wasn’t in favour of the way the Trudeau Government treated China. Who is he kidding he was the person whispering in Justin Trudeau’s ear.
– “1 hour before Canada Air Force One entered Chinese airspace all public servants and political staff had to power down their usual work and personal devices and stash them in a Faraday Bag. They were given Burner devices while in China. They were promptly returned as soon as the delegation plane left Chinese Airspace” – Posted in an article in the National Post.
-“Canada is taking precautions on its dealing with China. Canada’s National Security Agencies is the most sophisticated” – really??? This was said about Concerns that technology in the vehicles could be used to spy on users and pose a direct threat to foreign countries security”.
-” China is a key partner – words like disruptive or disregards were replaced with Partner and Chinese strengths”.
Those of you who though that Carney was the silver bullet to protect Canada I have to ask this question – Is this how he is protecting Canada?
Wow the Liberal government who are fanatics about global warming decide to do business with the world largest producer of C02. A country with legions of Mega coal fired currently operating, and legions more mega coal fired plants on the drawing board. Does this make any sense?
I traded my Tesla for an all electric Cadillac partly because of Musk.
I would never own a Chinese made EV nor do I use public charging stations.
Better to install a 240 volt plug and charge overnight at home as I did.
We need trading partners and while China is not my first choice, neither is the US as long as the megalomaniac is in the White House.
Very few good choices for Carney but he is doing all he can.
A current snapshot of Carney Liberal beliefs:
Liberals, Jan. 15: laud working with authoritarian China and its “New World Order”
Jan. 16: Court finds Liberals, in authoritarian manner, illegally banned protests and froze accounts
Liberals, Jan. 17: laud investment potential with authoritarian Qatar, which uses slave labour
Carney has said recently that Canada shares values with China.
I want no part of this. Priority One stabilize trade with the U. S. if only on a sectoral by sectoral basis.
I am astounded by the short sightedness of Carney’s action and the apparent support of so many Canadians that should know better instinctively why this is such a bad idea, particularly based on our history of doing business with China since Jean Chretien’s trade mission in 1994.
Trading with China is a one way street. They have all the cost advantages of a dictatorship, in fact the country operates more like a giant corporation headed by Xi Jinping exploiting everything in its path for profit and power, while calling itself communist to suggest a social conscience but having none and certainly not any of our democratic social costs.
And they are clever at deceptive marketing….take climate change for example…they are the worst polluter on the planet at 30% of total GHG emissions, all while claiming high status as the leader in green energy solutions…solar, wind, batteries and now EV’s….and its almost believable from all the hype until you look at the facts. While its true that they ARE the worlds leader in MAKING all those devices and have been the leaders, if not sole supplier of the worlds solar and wind, for 4 decades, they barely use them themselves to eliminate their atrocious use of coal (half the world’s total supply in fact) from which they still get the majority, 58%, of their electricity. No carbon taxes, no emissions caps, no threat of long term jail sentences of the kind they met out to free speech enthusiasts for failure to stop using coal!! They are concerned only with dominating the world economically, as its cheapest supplier, at the expense of their own citizens and the WORLD’s environment if necessary!
Its evident that solar and wind devices have been far better at generating profits for the Chinese economy and dictatorship than clean affordable electricity for their people (or ours)….particularly with all the western subsidies….hundreds of billions since 2015 from Canada alone (given to our wealthier class, of course, who hardly needed subsidy given the supposed benefits to be gained and the already cheap manufacture in China)!
But most curious, why would Mark Carney make a deal with China that only (and only maybe) protects $5 billion in Canola trade by taking tariffs off Chinese made EVs that could ultimately threaten $82 billion in Canada’s exports to the US from our auto sector?
Perhaps we could have just covered those canola fields with solar panels and wind turbines to create green energy to top up our already 80% green grid and create all the jobs that go with that (?)….farmers wouldn’t have to work anymore, just lease their land to solar and wind farms!
And why would Carney make any deal with an ACTUAL DICTATORSHIP (China) which in any case accounted for only 3.8% of Canada’s exports in 2024, to escape a WANNABE dictator (Trump) who’s country represents 77% of our exports and who’s moronic incompetence is likely to end his absurd aspirations shortly anyway? A few more of Doug Ford’s informative Reagan ads running in the states might have hastened Trump’s downfall but Carney’s thoughtless apology to the moron (Trump) undid much of the good that Ford’s ad had done!
And lastly, why does Carney think he’s entitled to make such an arrangement on his own…don’t we have 337 other EQUAL MPs in parliament that should be able to vote on this for their constituents? He is only Prime among equal MPs, not CEO….he won his seat with just 67k votes from his riding! Out of a voting population in Canada of 29 million people that’s just 0.23% of the vote!
So the Chinese use their technology to data mine. This is so different from what Google, Meta and Amazon do, amongst others. They respect our privacy. So China interferes in our election. Americans have no play in this process. They are strictly hands off. At the present time which country is the likeliest country to make use of that data to invade Canada: China or the United States?
It is a bit reductionist, to say the least, to blame Doug Ford for falling EV sales. There are multiple reasons people don’t want to buy these cars, not the least of which is front end cost, and some horror stories about repairs.
Yes Gary, it is very different, Google and Meta tell you they use your data when you sign their terms and conditions when you subscribe to their services. You can use a VPN to protect your data if you desire. China uses data for their benefit and nefariously, without knowledge, permission, without legal rights and unconstitutionally, lets not be naive about this. Google and Meta do not have a military, do not intimidate other countries to become a global super power.
The US government has little interest in our electoral process, we like to think they care but they don’t. On the other had, left leaning NGO’s in Canada financed by US billionaires do have a major impact. Look at the financiers for the “Coastal First Nations” (not a first nations but an activist group) for example, they are financed in part by the Rockefeller Foundation and other US based organizations.
It’s interesting to see Ray now “carry the water” for the Communist Party of China.
During the leadership race, and during the election Carney called out China as the “biggest security threat to Canada”.
Apparently that does not matter any more, and Ray’s justification for cozying up to a communist dictator with many human rights violations is “we need to look at what’s evolving south of the boarder”.
What do you mean specifically Ray, comparing one of the freest democracies in the world that many want to immigrate to, compared to a tyrannical dictatorship, that never lets you leave their clutch on you and your family.
The CCP does not deal fairly, we will let in 60,000 of their EV’s, they will want to increase that number, and when they do, they will put on another tariff on Canadian goods, and the cycle will continue.
Chinese EV’s are spy machines, cameras, GPS, data gathering machines. The CCP builds “backdoors” into their chip sets that are very difficult to uncover, they do this all the time, and we will have spend tax payers dollars to monitor. It’s not about credit information when charging as you so simply and naively put it.
Under Carney we are losing auto sector jobs faster than anyone predicted, and he claimed to get a deal with the US. So no deal with the US, no new jobs in Canada.
So we all forget that the CCP held the two Michaels hostage for 1019 days, all is forgiven Ray?
The CCP operate police stations in Canada that puts pressure on the Chinese diaspora in Canada, are you cool with that Ray?
The CCP interferes with our electoral process, all good too, I guess.
Chinese triads import fentanyl precursors into Canada, finance labs, launder money, distribute the drug in Canada, and ship it around the world through Canada’s “leaky” port system. Still all good?
Let’s not forget about enslavement of Uyghur Muslims, and associated human rights violations.
Carney is tied to the CCP through Brookfield, when Joly listed Canadian companies that are doing business in China, guess what, they were all Brookfield investments!
Just prior to Carney’s visit the CCP conducted military exercises in and around Taiwan, flexing the Chinese military muscle. Not a “peep” from Carney on this and very little in the mainstream media. During that time and prior to Carney’s visit two Liberal MP’s and two Conservative MP’s were in Taiwan. The CCP told Carney to order his MP’s back to Canada, and Carney capitulated. The Conservative MP’s stayed in Taiwan to complete their business.
I have worked in business in China, and have travelled there. Here’s how it works for Canada. If you want to do something there, you ship only the bare minimum to China, only something they cannot make, the Chinese will do everything else. If they need your technology, you need to build a factory there, and make it with their workers and management.
Yes, I get agriculture, minerals and natural resources. But once again, the CCP use these as leverage against you, you are dealing with a mafia.
I’m sadden, disgusted, and baffled that any Canadian would think this is a good idea for our Country.
Informative article. Good to be reminded of the EV actions taken by our provincial and federal governments. Just not clear about the two bylines on the article…Pepper Parr? Or Ray Rivers?
Editor’s note: I’m not following you here. The only byline I can see is that of Ray Rivers. Would you point me to what you are seeing so I can make a correction – thank you.
Rarely mentioned is that the current setup imposes a hidden tax on every non-chinese automobile. Specifically, the fact that in North America (and to a lesser extent Asia/Europe) a significant part of the cost of a vehicle is to compensate for less productive manufacturing than the competition. Sure, the Chinese may be subsidizing the product, but it’s the same with your TV, almost everything at Walmart and Dollarama, etc. We seem able to live with that.
I don’t disagree with the article.
Unfortunately I don’t trust anything that China agrees to.
My question would regard the possibility of them being able to track information through the EV’s made in China.
There is no relief for pork in the announcement that I have seen. Many of the EV owners are relatively well to do. Non Chineses econd hand EVs are cheap. It remains to be seen how much interest if any that lower income Canadians or anyone might have in cheap Chinese vehicles that posdibly communicate data with Canada’s most serious national security rusk.Where is the Chinese commitment for Canadian assembly or parts supply. With $24 billion gifts to the Ukraine its doubtful that any major investment can be afforded for charging infrastructure as demand for EVs has collapsed and many owners realize there is no resale market.