Canada’s auto industry has a chance to reset with EV market, expert says

'These are people's lives': Oshawa, Ont. mayor on third shift being cut at GM plant

Despite close to 1,200 General Motors workers walked off their final shift in Oshawa, Ont., on Friday, one expert says there might be an opportunity for Canada’s auto industry.

U.S. President Donald Trump has claimed his U.S. tariffs on Canadian sectors are encouraging car companies to come back to the U.S. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Mark Carney has been making efforts to reposition Canada’s relationships on the world stage, negotiating a substantially lower tariff rate on Chinese-made EVs while on an official trip to China to meet with President Xi Jinping.

• READ MORE: Hundreds out of work as GM cuts third shift at Oshawa plant

Ian Lee, an associate professor at the Sprott School of Business at Carleton University, told CTV Your Morning on Friday that Canada may be better off to retrain or retool, rather than renegotiate.

“The auto industry is going through a massive change because of automation, and of course, (electric vehicles),” Lee said, adding that North American customers are not taking up EVs as fast as other markets.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford has said that auto workers who have lost their jobs would be given opportunities in the defence and life science sectors.

However, Lee says he’s frightened by Ford’s insistence of using the word “protectionism,” as Lee claims “protectionism” produces “stagnation” and “limits innovation.”

• READ MORE: Doug Ford backtracks on federal auto strategy after meeting with Carney and Joly

Instead, Lee said they should retrain those laid off employees to learn how to work with EVs.

“(It) is the proper way to go,” he said. “We can’t stop change, we can not stop innovation, we can’t stop the emergence of EVs, which are going to eventually displace the internal combustion engine.”

Lee expects Canada’s auto industry to look different in the future, citing potential Chinese and South Korean investment.“

More competition is a good thing, not a bad thing,” he said, adding that Canada presently doesn’t have any EVs that cost in the $20,000 to $30,000 range.

• READ MORE: Ottawa, South Korea in talks to bring auto manufacturing to Canada: sources

“The competitors,” Lee added, “haven’t been spurred with enough competition to deliver what the market wants and needs, which is a modestly priced EV.”

But if CUSMA cannot be successfully renegotiated, and the Canadian auto industry loses access to the U.S. market, Lee said it would be at risk of collapsing.

“We could end up losing the auto industry,” he said.