And your reply does not touch on the 'unkind' portion of my comment. Why should those workers suffer more than they already have?
Yes, Canada is economically integrated with the US to a massive degree and we're each other's biggest trading partners. But the analogy with California is a totally false one.
They are a US state subject to its federal laws and political system. We are not.
We maintain political independence, and need to maintain that independence.
You would think if you wanted to be independent you would have your own EV car company. If EVs are the future and Canada cannot make competitive EVs with china this means Canada will not have an auto sector. Given that there are hundreds of thousands of people working in this area it doesnt actually bode well for Canadians.
I am actually Canadian this is why I am so familiar with the situation.
I would love a Canadian EV company to exist because I'd love to work there as a software engineer.
Got any leads? :-)
You are literally advocating for something that is against your own desires.
The Canadian market cannot support a car company without exporting the majority of production. The US is our largest natural market and does not want our auto exports. It's unclear why other markets would want our EVs either.
Artificial barriers to protect an industry where we don't have an advantage (autos) which results in tariffs on a sectors where we do (agricultural products, resources) isn't sustainable or desirable.
But parent poster is correct that blindly subsidizing and funding a local industry with no market will also just lead to boondoggles and failures.
Especially in the context of an uncooperative trading partner which could have been a potential export market for our production in the past but now is a hostile state trying to break apart national unity and destroy what little manufacturing sector successes we have.
We've already had major issues around the massive battery construction plants proposed here in Ontario and Quebec, that got major government support and investment.
Unfortunately this is the very difficult place the manufacturing sector in Canada finds itself in. And the Canadian working class as a whole.
I wouldn't call it myopic to be skeptical here. If there was an easy answer Canada would have taken it decades ago.
I hate to say it but the boondoggles of Canada are just graft. These arent investments in any real sense.
As for this line 'Unfortunately this is the very difficult place the manufacturing sector in Canada finds itself in. And the Canadian working class as a whole.'
look this is just neoliberalism. Maybe stop doing that and things will suck less.
How much are 125k manufacturing jobs in Ontario worth? Are there no better economic sectors that we can build up?
It might simply be that Canada cannot compete in any market. You have a very interesting choice at this stage. Do you A. not have an economy or B. have an economy that may require some sheltering from the world.
A mobile capitalist wants A. A human that is bound to the country probably wants B.
Up until Trump, Canadians viewed the United States as a friendly country, and had a hard time imagining that the US would actually employ its massive leverage in a malicious way. The most concerning thing for Canadians should not be that Trump has tried to employ this leverage against Canada, but that Americans haven't risen up in revolt against this attack on a friendly country. Canada cannot rely on the US being a friendly country in the future, even if Trump does leave office in 2029 (which he is already suggesting he may not do).
So legally speaking, yes, Canada is not like California. Canada is formally an independent country. But practically speaking, unless Canada takes drastic measures, it may become more like California than like an independent country, for all practical intents and purposes.