Hard disagree, we should be reducing our reliance on China, not increasing it.

It's really telling that Chinese EVs (like imported Teslas) were basically considered fine until the prospect of them being affordable to the middle class arose. That's when we started hearing about labour abuses and fires that only happen with * cheap Chinese* batteries.

It's not like Tesla has a stellar reputation for quality and reliability. They started powerwall as a way to offload bad/ prematurely failing batteries. Don't get me wrong, powerwall is a good idea. But pretending like BYD is going to have terrible batteries and that's why we need tariffs is bad.

China has labour and human rights abuses (eg genocide of Uyghers in Xinjiang [cultural genocide is still genocide]). Imo Canada is doing a better job of reconciling with its history/present of cultural genocide than China is. Canada's TFW program probably results in lots of horrible abuses that we don't hear about, but i think this program may be on its way out too. These issues don't only apply to EVs though.

The only things that're EV specific are lithium batteries and automotive manufacturing.

EV tariffs are protectionism: We want to protect domestic automotive (and para-automotive) manufacturing capabilities, and our investments in EVs/green tech.

I don't think 100% tariffs can be justified on EVs alone.

Give me a Honda fit but electric and make my landlord give me the ability to charge it. Some fancy tech would be nice, but I drive a used economy vehicle for a reason

I'm still tempted to do a diy conversion to get specifically what I want and nothing else. I have to get my money's worth out of my bike too though.

The bolt ev and euv is an amazing car I love it and it fits your criteria.

So, I drive an EV already but here's the rub with just taxing gas powered vehicles.

I still believe some people need (or should use) gas vehicles currently.

The first case is for people who have no access to a charger at their home (primarily condo dwellers, since home owners can easily install them) This should be regulated by the government, every condo should be required to upgrade their parking to include a certain percentage of chargers. We don't need more chargers at random places around the city like we have with gas stations, vehicles should always be charged wherever they happen to sit overnight.

I've had an EV for 3 years now, and I've never once needed a fast charger, I've never driven more than 400km in a single day so overnight level 2 charging is perfectly fine for me, I even used only the standard wall-socket level 1 charger for 4 months when I first got the car. It was do-able but a bit annoying.

The second case is for long distance drivers and/or towing, if you drive more than 2x your battery range in a day as a normal action then EVs just aren't yet sufficient for you. This is common if you need to tow heavy things, because the towing range on EVs is absolute shit so 2x that battery range isn't very far. A ford f150 lightning is fine for hauling your trailer around the suburbs for your yard maintenance business, but if you tow farm equipment a few hundred kilometers a day to different farms, it's not going to work with the current options.

Third, People who already have vehicles. When you replace it, go EV, don't bother until then. If you are a low distance driver, when you go to replace your vehicle, buy a used gas vehicle not a new one. EVs make more sense both financially and environmentally the more use they get.

These issues are all getting sorted out (slowly) but we aren't done with gas vehicles just yet so I'd rather see the taxes on the Gas than on the Vehicle itself.

I am waiting for the exponential increase in gas prices to start.

We have to pay for the carbon we're releasing, it is a market externality, it's going to cost us trillions of dollars. This is what government is for in a capitalist society.

Only if that tax subsidizes EVs.

Withhold choice? Do you not realize that there are electric vehicles from literally every major brand available today?

I love my Kia Niro EV, going on three years and 80,000km now.

Ford, Stellantis, GM, Honda, Toyota: source (click "Made in Canada"). Both countries assemble many cars where parts are made in the US/Canada/Mexico (see: NAFTA/CUSMA aka USMCA)

edit: also for context, auto manufacturing is a big political football here in Ontario, with politicians always announcing funding and looking for photo ops around it because they're big employers in manufacturing

If by that you mean "headquartered in Canada and manufacturing in Canada for the Canadian market" then the answer is no, I'm pretty sure the last ones vanished no later than the middle of the 20th century. Some US and other foreign companies do have manufacturing and assembly plants here, but I wouldn't call them Canadian. (Ford Canada used to be semi-independent and produced some own-model vehicles early on, but they're nothing more than a subsidiary of the US company now.)

Ford, GM, Toyota, Honda, Fiat Chrysler have factories in Canada. I don’t know of any that truly Canadian companies though.