The calls have been so frequent and made by so many over time that the concept of a nationwide auto technique has nearly turn out to be white noise.
However Canada wants one now greater than ever.
Brendan Sweeney, the chief director of the London, Ont.-based Trillium Community for Superior Manufacturing, satisfied me of that on the Dec. 3 episode of the Automotive Information Canada podcast.
He informed me he’s “100 million per cent” behind the concept, and right here’s why: The normal automotive business and its provide chain are altering — and quick.
The fast tempo of electrification means mining is now a part of the auto business. And with the race towards autonomous autos effectively below means, expertise is an excellent higher a part of the availability chain. And, after all, as now-retired Magna CEO Don Walker as soon as mentioned — and I’m paraphrasing — autos will at all times want seats.
This Canadian auto business is not primarily contained alongside Ontario’s Freeway 401 between Windsor and Oshawa. It now can — and will — embody mining in northern Ontario and Quebec. It consists of the fuel-cell analysis being carried out by firms reminiscent of Ballard in Burnaby, B.C.
And what about Alberta? Sure, Alberta, the place the Alberta Centre for Superior Microsystems and Nanotechnology Merchandise (ACAMP) helps the event of autonomous-transportation applied sciences.
And there’s Canada’s personal battery guru, Jeff Dahn, whom we lately profiled, doing battery analysis in Halifax.
The auto business and the federal authorities coverage affecting it will possibly not be ignored by of us in Alberta or Manitoba, which is a hub for bus and fire-truck meeting. Certain, these aren’t vehicles, however they’re transportation.
“Till comparatively lately, it was actually fairly onerous to pitch automotive as a pan-Canadian factor to of us in Saskatchewan or of us in Cape Breton,” Sweeney mentioned. “But when we will do that tip-to-tail battery provide chain, effectively, this extends into northern communities and extends into First Nations communities.
“So, it’s about time. We have now clusters and lists of discrete initiatives and really worthwhile capabilities. We have now to carry them collectively. And it’s going to take a technique to try this, and it’s going to take a coordination and doubtless some sort of coordinating physique of authority. We will’t have seven coordinating our bodies. It’s time.”
The necessity for a coordinated effort — particularly aimed on the rise of U.S. protectionism, significantly President Joe Biden’s proposed EV credit score — has put collectively some unusual bedfellows.
On Dec. 9, the Ontario authorities created the Premier’s Council on U.S. Commerce and Business Competitiveness, designed to maintain the province aggressive in manufacturing — automotive particularly. Apparently, Premier Doug Ford’s council will probably be chaired by Unifor President Jerry Dias.
A Conservative authorities’s council chaired by a unionist. I by no means thought I’d see the day.
Talking to suppliers simply days earlier than the council’s creation, Ford nailed it:
“That is the time for a Group Canada method.”