Good morning, Madam Chair.
My name is Daniel Breton, and I am the CEO of Electric Mobility Canada. Thank you for allowing me to appear before the Standing Committee on International Trade to talk about tariffs on Chinese‑made electric vehicles. I want to start by saying that we are in favour of tariffs on Chinese‑made electric vehicles.
Electric Mobility Canada, the Canadian association for transportation electrification, has nearly 200 members, including manufacturers of cars, trucks, buses and all-terrain vehicles, as well as unionized workers. We are therefore very aware of the delicate nature of this issue.
On one hand, we want to ensure that Canadian workers and our local EV supply chain investments are protected from unfair labour practices from China. On the other, we want to ensure that Canadian consumers and end-users have access to more affordable light-, medium- and heavy-duty EVs that are, as much as possible, made here.
EMC and its members suggested a targeted approach that supports Canadian workers, innovation and our growing EV supply chain while addressing Chinese labour and environmental practices that have an impact on the Canadian auto industry.
China holds a dominant role in global smelting and refining of critical minerals, including most of the lithium and copper sourced from Chile and Australia. China also has a dominant position in battery technology and manufacturing. The global EV supply chain presently relies on this battery technology and certain components from China to function.
China could take significant retaliatory action in response to an across-the-board surtax. Canadian tariff actions in this regard should not be taken arbitrarily. EMC recommended that any surtax be phased in and be time-limited to allow affected EV manufacturers sufficient time to adjust their production plans. This would also have provided OEMs fair warning that they need to address issues of affordability and be prepared for competition.
This is why we recommended the following targeted actions.
One is to impose an import surtax on EVs as well as gas and diesel vehicles assembled in China, after having reviewed how China's practices impact the Canadian auto industry. There is no environmental value to keeping out Chinese EVs but allowing Chinese-assembled gas cars and diesel trucks to replace the EV stock.
In exchange for this program, the Ontario government should have been required to supply EV incentives and deploy EV infrastructure for light-duty vehicles to make sure that EVs are affordable in that province. With $40 billion in total government support for Honda, VW and Stellantis alone in Ontario, we feel that the Ontario government must do a lot more to support EV adoption in their province, which, believe it or not, is lagging behind not only Quebec and B.C. but even P.E.I. and Yukon.
As a growing number of carmakers are starting to offer more affordable versions of EVs in other countries, in order to encourage affordable EV availability in Canada for Canadian consumers, we recommend that the federal government provide a three-year relief period for automakers to offer more affordable EV alternatives. After that period, if an automaker does not offer any EVs or PHEVs at a 20% lower purchase price than it is offering right now for its electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles, it wouldn't be eligible for any EV or PHEV rebates for any of its vehicles.
For medium- and heavy-duty vehicles, we also recommend tariffs, but I'm running out of time, so I will explain during the question period.
Some automakers are currently offering more affordable EVs in other markets, but not in Canada, because they don't have to. In fact, the vast majority of automakers aren't even offering entry-level gas-powered cars in Canada anymore. Also, if we don't have a zero-emission standard, we'll never get there.
Thank you very much.