Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Clean Energy Canada is a think tank based out of Simon Fraser University, focused on accelerating Canada's energy transition.
To set the stage, last year, more than a quarter of new cars sold globally were electric. This shift is being driven by the markets you'd expect—the European Union and China—but also by Vietnam's strong incentives and manufacturing focus and by Ethiopia, which once spent $4.5 billion a year importing fuel and is now the first country globally to ban imported industrial combustion engines.
Whatever the rationale, the shift to EVs is accelerating, and by 2035, they're on track to reach 50% of global new car sales. Bloomberg notes that electrified transport is now the largest sector of the energy transition, with close to $1 trillion U.S. spent on EV purchases and charging infrastructure in 2025.
It's a far leap to say that if Canada's auto sector is going to thrive into the future, we have to be capable of building or integrating into the supply chains for high-quality, affordable EVs, but an EV future is a bright future for Canada. We have major opportunities for producing the critical minerals, battery materials and other components that go into EVs—