Environment Committee on Nov. 2nd, 2020

[Joanna Kyriazis]

I would agree with Mr. Allan. We are certainly making progress. Range anxiety is perhaps over-exaggerated, given that the majority of Canadians are going to be charging at home overnight. That said, we still have low levels. As of 2019 we have 290 charging stations per one million residents. Compare that with Norway, which has 1,700 charging stations per million residents. Of course, Norway is a very high bar, so I'm not saying that we're going to get there any time soon, but it is very important that we focus on multi-unit residential buildings, because that's where folks don't have access to charging and don't have control over whether or not to install charging. A model building code at the national level, or other policies, should be focused on that.

[Peter Schiefke, Liberal, Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC]

Thank you, Ms. Kyriazis.

Mr. Bradley.

[Francis Bradley]

Thank you very much.

It of course depends upon where you are in the country. There was mention of the Circuit électrique in Quebec, and in Ontario and British Columbia, but if you are in parts of Newfoundland, for example, depending upon where you are, it is certainly more challenging.

The other part of addressing range anxiety and the overall anxiety that consumers may have is to give them an opportunity to test these vehicles. We partner with an organization called Plug 'N Drive. They have a discovery centre in Toronto, but there are also road shows that actually bring the vehicles out so consumers can test and try these electric vehicles, because, as was noted earlier, this was the challenge with car dealerships. We're trying to give as many people as possible an opportunity to test these vehicles through this third party organization called Plug 'N Drive here in Canada.

[Peter Schiefke, Liberal, Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC]

Thank you.

Madam Chair, how much time do I have left?

[The Chair, Liberal, Yasmin Ratansi]

You have zero time.

[Peter Schiefke, Liberal, Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC]

That's very sad, Madam Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yasmin Ratansi]

Yes.

Members of the committee, we have had three rounds. I have to stop it, because as I look at the timing, if I go for the fourth round, only the Conservatives and the Liberals would get a chance, and I think that would be unfair to the Bloc.

We have saved half an hour. We need 10 minutes for our committee meeting.

With that, I would like to ask all witnesses if they have last remarks to make. If so, please raise your hands and I can view you. Are there any last remarks from any of the witnesses?

Alexandre, can you see anybody?

[The Clerk]

Yes. All four of them would like to speak, Madam Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yasmin Ratansi]

I will give two minutes to each. How about that?

Would you like to go first, Mr. Allan?

[Travis Allan]

Yes, certainly.

I just want to say that we've spent 10 years building one of the leading charging manufacturers in North America. We make all our stations here in Canada with Canadian aluminum. It has not been an easy path. It is a lot to develop a new industry.

When we got our series-C financing on Friday, I think it was a real confirmation not just that this industry has an opportunity, but also that there is an opportunity to build this industry in Canada. If there's one thing that I would really underline, in addition to the environmental benefits and in benefits of a lower cost of operation and maintenance of EVs for Canadians, I think it's that there is a really important opportunity to make sure that Canada builds a globally recognized centre for excellence in manufacturing in clean transportation. The policies we've been discussing here today are an absolutely critical element of achieving that.

I would like to end by thanking you for taking the time to look into this. It's a very exciting opportunity for us and for Canadians.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yasmin Ratansi]

Thank you.

Madam Kyriazis.

[Joanna Kyriazis]

I too want to close with talking about the economic opportunity.

Electric vehicles save Canadians money. On average, they'll save about $2,000 per year because electric vehicles cost less to fuel and maintain than internal combustion engine vehicles.

Economy-wide, zero-emission vehicles present a huge opportunity for Canada. Yes, it would be helping to prepare Canada's auto sector and to position it to compete globally in a world that's transitioning to electric vehicles, but it goes beyond that. We have all of the metals and minerals we need to build electric vehicles here in Canada, and we have a very strong auto parts supply chain that is showcasing its readiness to feed into electric vehicle production. We have world-leading battery researchers here in Canada and highly skilled labour and charging infrastructure providers. Even all the way to the end of life of the supply chain, we're leading in battery recycling start-ups, such as Li-Cycle in Ontario and Seneca in Quebec.

There is a real opportunity here. Canada needs to act fast to put the right policies in place now, or else we will risk missing out to these other countries that are.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yasmin Ratansi]

Thank you very much.

Mr. Bradley.

[Francis Bradley]

Thank you for the opportunity.

I mentioned investments earlier. If, as a country, we're going to meet our 2050 goals for reducing GHG emissions, the electricity sector is going to be investing in the order of $1.7 trillion between now and then. To be able to make those investments to build for future needs and to retrofit, we're going to require support from energy regulators. There's a role for the federal government to play in facilitating this support. Beyond EVs, expanding distribution infrastructure will also facilitate other future expanded electricity use, not just electric vehicles. Finally, credits generated through the clean fuel standard could help offset some of these costs. Should local utilities be able to generate credits through EV charging, these revenues could help offset necessary infrastructure upgrades without having to add costs to residential bills.

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yasmin Ratansi]

Thank you very much.

Mr. Kingston.

[Brian Kingston]

Thank you.

First, I want to say thank you, everyone, for the opportunity to be here and answer questions.

I want to conclude with two points.

First, manufacturers are committed to electrification. The billions of dollars in investments would not be made if the manufacturers did not believe they could be selling these vehicles and that we're at a very exciting time where we're going to be building these cars right here in Canada. I wanted to underline that, because it's a critical point.

Second, I want to address the question around mandates. The suggestion that mandates are the reason that sales increase has come up a few times. B.C.'s mandate came into place in July. Sales of ZEVs were already 10% of new vehicle sales. Why? It was because of consumer incentives. In Quebec, there's a mandate, but there's also a consumer incentive. You take away the incentive and the sales go to zero. It doesn't matter if you have 10 EVs at every car dealership. It's a key point. We want to see the sales increase, but we need to get that price point down, and we're committed to working with government to do that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yasmin Ratansi]

I'd like to thank all of you for being here and for your presentations.

There have been some asks of you to submit things, so the clerk will be sending you emails regarding what the committee members requested.

With that, I will adjourn the meeting, and we will go in camera.

Thank you all, and we will take a break for a minute.

[The Clerk]

May I chime in?

[The Chair, Liberal, Yasmin Ratansi]

Yes, sure.

[The Clerk]

I wasn't aware that we were going in camera. If we go in camera, we need new Zoom links and a new password, and we—

[The Chair, Liberal, Yasmin Ratansi]

Oh, no. That's okay, then. We have no problem.

[The Clerk]

So, we'll just suspend and then come back?

[The Chair, Liberal, Yasmin Ratansi]

Yes.

We will let our witnesses go. Thank you.

[Peter Schiefke, Liberal, Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yasmin Ratansi]

Committee members, your subcommittee met and the clerk has distributed in both official languages the first report of the subcommittee. As you instructed us, the subcommittee would insert a calendar around the studies. I would like to ask all of you if you've seen the timetable and if are all in agreement with what the subcommittee has proposed.

Normally when I've been a chair on different subcommittees or committees, I have go through their reports point by point so that the clerk knows that you have all agreed to all the recommendations and don't come back and say that you had never agreed.

We have point number one in the subcommittee report: “That, in relation to the Zero Emission Vehicles study, the committee adopt the proposed work plan”. As you have read the rest of recommendations, I'm not going to read the in full because this is in public anyway.

Point number one continues, “with additional witnesses to be added when possible (up to six witnesses per meeting)”. This is our second meeting and if you look at the timetable it says it will take us up to November 30.

Is everyone in agreement? Are there any questions?