If Canada wants to be an EV leader, then it needs to place its eggs in more than one basket

Canada’s auto sector has many of the fundamentals right. Our educated workforce, history of high-quality assembly and parts manufacturing, and close trading relationship with the U.S. have been pillars of our success for decades. 

As the industry shifts toward the manufacturing of electric vehicles, or EVs, our abundance of critical minerals offers us an even greater advantage in a global arms race to build and power the cars of the future. 

Federal and provincial governments alike are seized with this opportunity and have invested billions to support EV and battery manufacturing on home soil. And while I support these investments, it’s also important to reflect on the true strength of Canada’s auto sector: its diversity. We’ve never kept all our eggs in one basket. And we shouldn’t change that in the years ahead.  

We can’t be selective or ideological when it comes to auto jobs. Realistically, if you look at the Detroit Three (General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis), pickup trucks pay the bills. The three companies committed over $120 billion towards EV and EV battery manufacturing, but their major profit centres remain with internal combustion engines (ICEs).

A few years ago, Ford made a big splash with the F150 Lightning, its flagship EV pickup truck. The result? In 2023, Ford sold 24,165 EV pickup trucks, and about 750,000 F150s.

With Trump threatening tariffs and a rollback of Biden-era EV policies, the industry will be under even greater pressure. But counterintuitively, if Pierre Poilievre wins the election and comes out saying the Canadian government will no longer be an active participant in the EV market, we’ll pay one hell of a price.  

Ontarians will remember that one of the first things Doug Ford did when he became premier was cancel the incentives to buy an electric vehicle. I was okay with that in isolation, because he was basically penalizing Tesla, one of the most anti-union companies in the world. But here we are in 2025 and what is he doing? Heavily investing in electric vehicles and marketing Ontario as a destination of choice for the sector. 

An incoming government should bypass any uncertainty and embrace the sector from day one. We should demand and expect a credible plan that looks past immediate political pressures and prioritizes the long-term protection and diversification of our auto sector. 

Jerry Dias was the founding president of Unifor and served as an advisor to Canada’s NAFTA negotiating team.