http://rabble.ca/columnists/2019/01/trudeau-bold-pipeline-investment-timid-when-it-comes-electric-cars
Trudeau bold on pipeline investment, but timid when it comes to electric
cars
Linda McQuaig
January 17, 2019
Long after the last factory has left Ontario, one can imagine Doug Ford
still sporting a full-on Cheshire grin as he puts up billboards
proclaiming the province "Open for Business."
Certainly, the premier didn't seem even slightly embarrassed that he'd
posted his billboards along the American border just before America's
biggest automaker announced plans last November to permanently shut down
business at its flagship Ontario plant.
For the rest of us, however, the closure of General Motors' Oshawa plant
should serve as a game-changer. Despite Canadian taxpayers bailing out
GM with billions of dollars in 2009, the shrinkage of its Oshawa
workforce has continued relentlessly -- from a high of 23,000 in the
1980s, down to 3,000 now -- and soon to 0.
The Toronto Star's business columnist David Olive made a persuasive case
that Ottawa should step in and buy GM Canada (at a fair, negotiated
price), and use its facilities -- including assembly plants, engineering
labs and cold-weather testing centre -- to create the first
Canadian-owned automaker. As Olive observed, we know a lot about
building cars in Ontario; we were making motorized vehicles here for
about half a century before Honda began its transition from making
motorbikes to cars.
There's never a perfect moment for a really ambitious move, although
actually this might be a good one -- the global auto industry is in
flux, with the world expected to transition to the electric car over the
next few decades.
A study by researchers at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and
Georgetown University concluded that such a transition is likely to come
faster than expected. They estimate more than 90 per cent of passenger
vehicles in the U.S., Canada, Europe and other advances nations could be
electric by 2040.
It's hard to imagine such a speedy transition -- but then, it was
probably also hard in 1910 to imagine Henry Ford's futuristic Model T
replacing the ever-popular horse-and-buggy. (Back then, the Model T was
far too expensive for ordinary people. But within a dozen years, its
price plunged by 70 per cent, and in 1925, almost 2 million Model Ts
were sold.)
The IMF researchers point out that a transition to 90 per cent electric
cars by 2040 "would meet the conditions to keep global temperature rise
below 2C."
They also note that such a transition would disrupt the auto industry.
Since an electric car has fewer parts, they maintain that "on-shoring"
-- that is, assembling cars in advanced economies rather than
"offshoring" them to low-wage countries -- is likely.
This suggests that a Canadian automaker building electric cars could
lead to future jobs here.
Of course, any decision to invest billions of taxpayer funds would have
to be made with utmost care.
Yet, oddly, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau showed no such careful
consideration when he promptly jumped in with $4.5 billion of taxpayer
money to purchase the leaky, 65-year-old Trans Mountain pipeline last
spring, declaring it "in the national interest" to ensure the pipeline's
expansion after the corporate owner threatened to back out of the project.
And taxpayers could be on the hook for another $9.3 billion if Ottawa
ends up financing that expansion -- which would enable Alberta to triple
production of its heavy oil, delivering a devastating blow to the battle
against climate change.
Meanwhile, Trudeau has shrugged and shown no interest in using taxpayer
dollars to create a Canadian-owned automaker that could involve us in
the future challenge of combining transportation and clean technology --
a challenge that seemingly holds the best hope for tackling climate change.
Of course, Trudeau's investment in the pipeline was driven by a desire
to appease Alberta (which it failed to do). Furthermore, it had the
support of the business community, whereas business would oppose a
publicly-owned automaker, seeing it as encroaching on its turf.
That's why, when it comes to an investment that could put Canada in the
race to develop a new generation of electric cars -- and make us leaders
in fighting climate change -- Trudeau is timid and unimaginative.
But when it comes to buying an aging, climate-destroying pipeline --
with the blessing of the business community -- our prime minister is all
boldness and swagger.