this post was submitted on 24 Aug 2025
105 points (93.4% liked)

Canada

10345 readers
677 users here now

What's going on Canada?

Related Communities

🍁 Meta

🗺️ Provinces / Territories

🏙️ Cities / Local Communities

Sorted alphabetically by city name.

🏒 SportsHockey

Football (NFL): incomplete

Football (CFL): incomplete

Baseball

Basketball

Soccer

💻 Schools / Universities

Sorted by province, then by total full-time enrolment.

💵 Finance, Shopping, Sales

🗣️ Politics

🍁 Social / Culture

Rules

  1. Keep the original title when submitting an article. You can put your own commentary in the body of the post or in the comment section.

Reminder that the rules for lemmy.ca also apply here. See the sidebar on the homepage: lemmy.ca

founded 4 years ago
MODERATORS
otter@lemmy.ca
mp3@lemmy.ca
otter@piefed.ca
mp3@piefed.ca
105
Canada needs a crown corporation for vehicle production (www.policyalternatives.ca)
submitted 2 days ago by streetfestival@lemmy.ca to c/canada@lemmy.ca
42 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

That said, with a changing global market in mind, countries have been more willing to get involved in the planning and development of national automotive companies. Mexico’s “Olinia”, for instance, is a planned EV line set to be led by a new federal ministry, with a focus on affordability. As noted in its initial press release, the target demographic is families and young people, with three models expected to cost between US $4,400 to US $7,400—significantly lower than other EVs sold in the country.

The idea is that a nationally led framework will aid in the project’s coordination, with production intended to take place across several regions to keep costs down. Government ownership will also ensure a reliable stream of investment and that the end product is something attainable by the average Mexican family.

Turkey is pursuing a similar project through its Automobile Joint Venture Group (TOGG), a consortium of companies with the support and financial backing of the government. The goal is to create a national brand of EVs, with some models already being available for purchase.

With Mexico and Turkey offering prospective templates, Canada need not reinvent the wheel in pursuing its own, publicly owned automaker. Only the federal government has the ability to operate a program of this magnitude by bringing together our natural resources, skilled workforce, and industrial capacity to create a sustainable and affordable Canadian brand.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] Showroom7561@lemmy.ca 2 points 21 hours ago

I don’t think we’re that far apart in views but we are very different in terms of who we think needs to lead the change.

I’m putting the onus on societal level changes in the built environment and acceptance of children and persons with disabilities.

You seem to be putting the onus on individuals to drive the change by personally overcoming barriers.

I think that both can co-exist, especially if you want to accelerate progress.

It is a shame that a great deal of the population is simply "ignored" or at least, treated as second-class, and I'm always pushing local council members, and the Regional office my municipality is in, to improve accessibility and equity for these minority groups.

It's not easy, mostly because change on a societal level can take years or decades, and I don't have enough time to wait for that.

So, I have to empower myself whenever and wherever possible. And yes, I completely understand that not everyone is in the position to do that. I don't want to undermine or downplay their struggles or needs.

I do acknowledge these challenges that you have brought up, and I strongly believe that having more options available for moving people is better than having limited options.

But my point specifically is addressing the millions of single-occupancy, short trip rides, initiated by healthy individuals. These people dominate the roadways and we really need to persuade them to get out of their cars, for everyone's sake. And the more who do, the faster infrastructure will be built that can accommodate all needs, for all ages.

City planners (at least where I live) seem to really lean on the motto that: "we build where the demand is". And even though it's painfully obvious that demand will remain low for cycling and pedestrian infrastructure if people feel unsafe, or unable to access certain infrastructure, anyone who is able to "just do it", will have an impact on the decisions of city planners moving forward.

It's maddening when I see communities where their elderly are quite literally forced to walk on the road, because no sidewalks exist. How the hell does anyone find it OK to have enough space to park idle vehicles, but not enough for kids and elderly?

Thanks for the thoughtful conversation. I hope that you and yours have a wonderful day.