Industry and Technology Committee on April 16th, 2026

[Michael Guglielmin, Conservative, Vaughan—Woodbridge, ON]

Just to clarify, would you say that bringing in electric vehicles manufactured in China poses a national security threat to Canada?

[Neil Bisson]

I believe the implementation of any technology that comes from a country that has previously demonstrated the suitability and motivation that the Chinese government has could potentially cause more risk to national security here in Canada.

[Michael Guglielmin, Conservative, Vaughan—Woodbridge, ON]

What would you recommend that the government do if it were going to bring in electric vehicles from Chinese suppliers, and from China writ large, in order to better prepare ourselves for the national security implications?

[Neil Bisson]

Unfortunately, I'm not savvy enough when it comes to the technology side of things. All I can state is that we have seen what the risks are. We have seen that the Chinese Communist Party is willing to participate in cyber-espionage, intellectual property theft and transnational repression, and all of those things are detrimental to the national security of Canada. If the implementation of technology that is being provided by the Chinese government, or by the People's Republic of China, could mean access to more of this information within Canada, then that is definitely a threat that needs to be dealt with.

[Michael Guglielmin, Conservative, Vaughan—Woodbridge, ON]

Thank you very much.

With 20 seconds left, I'll turn it back to you, Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ben Carr]

Thanks very much, Mr. Guglielmin.

Madame O'Rourke, the floor is yours for six minutes.

[Dominique O'Rourke, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

The first question is for Ms. Weitzman, and perhaps also for Mr. Kabbara, if you can keep your answers short. Can you give us a general summary of the response to the government's auto strategy thus far?

[Ilana Weitzman]

I will keep this short.

The general response is very positive. It has created a direction that is giving the industry and the sector as a whole some confidence. We now have incentives in place with clarity for light-duty vehicles. We definitely feel that the indicators are a way to allow commercial development of charging infrastructure and would give a push for automakers, which can see a clear vision from this government.

[Dominique O'Rourke, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

Mr. Kabbara, could you give your perspective?

[Moe Kabbara]

I'll keep my answer short.

It was a great move from sales mandates to industrial policy, specifically including things like the remissions framework signal, which we're going to use to incentivize companies to invest in Canada as a way to access the Canadian market. That is a great signal for making sure that we're building the auto sector and protecting Canadian investments.

[Dominique O'Rourke, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

I think you both spoke to the fact that a number of organizations are seeing the benefit of electric fleets in terms of cost savings. Can you comment quickly on what you're seeing in trends not only domestically but also globally in terms of fleet electrification and why Canadian businesses really shouldn't ignore that trend?

[Ilana Weitzman]

When we talk about electrification, we're talking about a couple of different moves on the path to sustainable transportation.

I'll give the example of a telecom company in Quebec. These are the folks who come in vans to fix your Internet. They've benefited from the Ford E-Transit, which is a low-cost electric van. A lot of their technicians do short routes during the day, and 40% of their fuel costs are from idling. That means when the technicians are sitting and having lunch, they are running the vehicles and burning fossil fuels, of course, and sitting in our neighbourhoods causing tailpipe pollution. When they switch to an electric vehicle, during that idle time, they usually use the high-voltage battery and sit comfortably in an air-conditioned or heated cabin.

That company has said that by reducing their fleet of combustion vehicles and by right-sizing and significantly electrifying—I believe they have upwards of 200 electric vehicles in their fleet at this point—they have saved, back of the napkin, half a million dollars over five years. That's not insignificant.

[Dominique O'Rourke, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

Mr. Kabbara, did you want to add anything?

[Moe Kabbara]

I'll just add that there's a lot of opportunity for fleets, specifically for short-haul delivery, with a lot of savings. I developed a fleet optimization model about six years ago. If you have a vehicle that's only driving five kilometres a day, don't go after that vehicle, but if you have a vehicle that's driving 200 kilometres a day, there are a lot of savings to be captured.

As another note, just as a data point, over 50% of new heavy-duty trucks in China were EVs last year. This is something we're seeing, and technology is going to catch up. There are a lot of savings to be captured there from a logistical perspective.

[Dominique O'Rourke, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

In the United States, we're seeing Tesla build supercharging stations. They're also coming out with semis that are electric. What is the benefit of having domestic battery production in Canada for the future we see coming all around us?

[Moe Kabbara]

For me, it's like this: Can we take the trend I mentioned, three million vehicles to 1.3 million...? Now we've expanded the definition of what we're associating with the auto sector. Batteries are where the value is in an EV, so having Canada play a role in battery manufacturing is going to be where we capture economic value.

[Dominique O'Rourke, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

I believe that in the conversation right now about looking at the remittance framework, we might actually be widening the definition of what is Canadian production, so that's exciting. It's an opportunity to plug the productivity superdeduction, so people who have an EV fleet can write that off in the first year. That's in budget 2025.

I want to give each of you a chance to comment on the importance of having uniform charging connectors. That's been raised with me. Also, if you could, comment on the importance of calibrating the GHG standards.

Mr. Kabbara, you can start.

[Moe Kabbara]

I'll just speak about the GHG standards.

Our objective, and our organization has been very clear on this.... The goal is to transform the system to come out better off economically. That's the goal. If we're chasing megatonnes in 2027 and 2028 and asking how much we reduced them by—17% or 15%—that's not the right policy question.

This should be calibrated to preserve the investment signal that is needed for the charging infrastructure and grid upgrades, without necessarily affecting affordability and consumer choice. That's the threading of the needle that needs to happen.

[Dominique O'Rourke, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

Ms. Weitzman.

[Ilana Weitzman]

I'll also start with the emission standards.

Look, we're at a turning point anyhow. In the U.S., the EPA final rule rescinding the endangerment finding repeals federal GHG emission standards for all vehicles and engines from 2012 to 2027 and beyond, along with associated reporting and compliance programs. That goes into effect in four days.

Our own emission standards point to the EPA by reference, because we think of ourselves as a unified market. The consequence is dramatic. No Canadians asked for or voted on this, but clearly we're going to have zero choice.

My question is, are we going to build cars for Americans with no emission standards and sell those here? Is the plan to become the world's dirtiest car factory? We can all admit that as electrification rises globally, we need to at the very least diversify and then make the most of Canada's natural assets, not only in critical minerals and clean electricity but also in research. We have one of the world's foremost battery researchers in the world in Halifax, Nova Scotia. At this point, we really have no choice with the trend that is happening south of the border.

Quickly, on charging—

[The Chair, Liberal, Ben Carr]

Ms. Weitzman, I'm afraid I'll have to cut you off, as we're well over the time allocated to Madame O'Rourke. Thank you for the commentary.

Mr. Ste‑Marie, you have the floor for six minutes.

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette—Manawan, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Good morning to all the witnesses. Once again, this is a very informative meeting. We're learning a lot.

My first set of questions is for Mr. Kabbara.

Ms. Weitzman, you can add to the answer, if you wish.

I think this panel of three witnesses is a good representation of the problem we're facing.

Mr. Kabbara, do you have access to the interpretation?

[Moe Kabbara]

I can understand a bit.

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette—Manawan, QC]

You have to select the “English” option on the screen to hear the interpretation.

From what I understand, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, we can turn to electromobility in all sectors, including individual transportation and commercial transportation.

That said, more and more often, it can be done for economic reasons. We see that the cost associated with electric vehicle transportation is becoming more and more competitive, especially when electric vehicles are used over the long term.

In response to a request from the previous U.S. administration, Canada led a development project to ensure that its industry could continue to work in a complementary manner with the United States. However, given the setback following the arrival of the current U.S. president, it's becoming difficult to continue developing this industry ourselves.

U.S. economist Paul Krugman, in particular, has also pointed out that it's obviously China that has developed expertise in electric vehicles, batteries and everything he calls electrotech, including solar panels. China's production costs are much lower.

Mr. Bisson has clearly demonstrated the internal security issues caused by importing this type of vehicle.

As for you, Mr. Kabbara, you said that there could be arrangements, joint ventures, and so on. Those solutions could eventually be analyzed. I basically think you have convinced me of how important it is for Canada to develop its own supply chain in the electric vehicle and battery sector. You gave some examples in your opening remarks, and you talked about the importance of supporting the entire supply chain of the industry.

We often think about the last steps, just before this gets integrated into the car. However, I would like to hear your comments on the first steps to take in the supply chain. We have abundant resources, rare metals and renewable electricity here, which can be a significant competitive advantage. Our advantage comes not just from subsidies but also from the comparative advantage offered by our natural resources and our clean electricity.

Can you tell us more about that?

Ms. Weitzman, I will then ask you to give us your comments.

[Moe Kabbara]

I've been working on this for about 10 years—looking at the supply chains. If we look at the Bloomberg scoring for battery supply chain potential, Canada was number one in the world two years ago. Now we're number two. It's about potential, though. The reason we're number two is that we have access to critical minerals. We're one of the only countries in the world that have full access to every critical mineral required for the EV supply chain. That includes lithium spodumene in Quebec. It also includes lithium brine in Alberta and nickel in Ontario. Copper is a very important element. We can have copper smelting in the Alberta heartland.

This is the critical mineral stuff we've been talking about for a while. We're starting to see some action, but we really need to move quickly. We can't just keep talking about potential when people around the world are moving very quickly. China is moving very quickly to buy mines around the world. They currently control upwards of 80% of all these critical minerals and their processing.

For Canada, vertical integration is the name of the game when it comes to producing a competitive product. The reason China has cheap EVs is not that they have cheap labour. They have cheap EVs because they have dominated and controlled the supply chain in a vertically integrated way.

You can go back to the Tesla battery days of 2021 and listen to that speech: “We're going to make a vehicle for $25,000.” Well, that's great. Everything they talked about was in regard to vertical integration. They were going to control lithium in Nevada. They were going to process it there. They were going to have cathode material. The idea is that vertical integration will be the name of the game, but that requires coordination. It requires industrial policy.

We've seen some hints of that. Where we are right now is way better than where we were five years ago. We were nowhere on EVs in the supply chain. I think we still have a long way to go. I'm saying that the Chinese are dominating this market globally. I'm not dismissing the security concerns, but is there a way we can partner with them on joint ventures? The U.S. is considering it. The CEO of Ford told Trump that they want to go with him to China to talk to BYD and CATL. We should not leave ourselves out of that conversation when obviously our partners in the south are looking at the same options.