Economic Relationship between Canada and the United States committee  That is exactly our concern. The number of stations the government has announced, in their intention to build by 2030, is 500,000 stations. The economic value of that is approximately $15 billion. Just to put it in perspective for a company like ours, that is literally the greatest opportunity in the history of North America for our industry.

Economic Relationship between Canada and the United States committee  Thank you. I can't agree more. The opportunities right now with the change to electrified transportation writ large are so enormous. I like to think about it in terms of a couple of key parts. There's the vehicle assembly, which we've been really fortunate to see great collaboration on between Canada in Ontario and the big automakers.

Economic Relationship between Canada and the United States committee  I think Canada has been a real early leader, particularly around charging stations, around medium- and heavy-duty electrification. We have some excellent companies in that regard. One of the things that we are concerned about for the United States is that if they're trying to hit these 2030 targets without having access to Canadian production, it's going to be very hard for them to meet those targets.

Economic Relationship between Canada and the United States committee  Their domestic manufacturing is more limited than in Canada. I think a number of the companies in the space are going to have to deal with the same supply chain issues that I mentioned before in trying to figure out how to meet buy American rules. I do think there will be some challenges meeting their targets because of that.

Economic Relationship between Canada and the United States committee  In the United States there is a combination of large global players, both from domestic players in the charging space, largely based out of California, and also some medium-duty growing companies. Then there are increasingly large European and also Chinese manufacturers that are starting to sell into the market, and in some cases, they are also starting to build plants in the United States.

Economic Relationship between Canada and the United States committee  I think that's an excellent way of putting it. Given the history of trade agreements between our two countries and the fact that Americans are accessing 9% of Canadian government procurements, compared to a much smaller amount by Canadians, I think it is very reasonable for the United States to carve out Canada as a special ally in this case.

Economic Relationship between Canada and the United States committee  Thank you for the question. We're pretty advanced. We've undertaken an RFI process and gone through the whole process of asking different states how committed they are to electrification and analyzing all the different cost factors that influenced that decision. Honestly, the decision to build the factory in the U.S. is also partially about showing that we are committed to the U.S. market, and we want to be part of helping that economy as well benefit from the opportunities with electrification.

Economic Relationship between Canada and the United States committee  Thank you. I am so excited to get out of my Haliburton living room and get out to a real EV auto show again. I really look forward to that. We have some very strong competition in the United States, and I would never mislead you about that. There are some great companies, and I am proud to say that Canada and Quebec have managed to also field an absolute world leader in this area.

Economic Relationship between Canada and the United States committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Thank you to you and the committee members for this opportunity to contribute to your study on the recent U.S. executive order for more stringent buy America measures. We sincerely appreciate the opportunity to share our observations on this topic.

Environment committee  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.

Environment committee  Yes, there can be a strong business case for fleets and also for merchants who are trying to attract people to their businesses. There are in those cases other economic benefits for providing charging services.

Environment committee  Our company offers the two major open charging standards for our DCFC charging stations, because different auto makers use different standards. We don't offer the Tesla plug; you'd need to use a converter for it. We'll adapt which charging standards we offer depending upon which one becomes the winner in the market, effectively.

Environment committee  Perhaps I can start, Madam Chair. We have made important progress, particularly in places like Quebec and B.C., through support from the federal government, and also local utilities like B.C. Hydro, Hydro-Québec, Circuit électrique and private companies, but there are still numerous places in Canada where it is challenging to find the appropriate level of charging, either DC fast charging or level two.

Environment committee  The reason I was hesitant is that we're engaged in a major expansion to sell Canadian-made charging stations with clean Canadian aluminum to the United States, so we're undertaking a lot of expenses to grow our North American market share. For level two charging stations that you'd use at home or commercially at a business to bring people in as your customers, there's already a great business case.

Environment committee  They can be profitable on a transactional basis. It depends whether a company is trying to be in a steady state or is trying to grow. Those stations can definitely have a good ROI for the businesses that invest in them.