OTTAWA – More new electric vehicles hit the road in Canada last year than ever before but the growth is nowhere near what is happening in Europe.
Statistics Canada says 65,253 new battery-only and plug-in hybrid electric cars were registered in the first nine months of 2021, more than the number registered across 12 months in any previous year.
In all of 2020, Canadians registered 54,353 electric vehicles, often referred to as EVs. In 2019, there were 56,165.
Data for the final three months of 2021 is not yet available but for the first nine months, EVs represented five per cent of new cars registered, up from three per cent in both 2020 and 2019.
Joanna Kyriazis, a program manager at Clean Energy Canada, said it is good news to see growth in Canada’s EV market, but it’s not keeping pace with Europe.
In 2019, France, Germany and the United Kingdom were on par with Canada with electric cars making up between 2.5 and three per cent of all new registrations. By last year, electric vehicles made up almost 18 per cent of new registrations in the U.K., 19 per cent in France and 26 per cent in Germany.
“So they started at the same place as Canada in 2019 and in two years they’ve seen sales really skyrocket,” Kyriazis said. “So I’m hoping that Canada is about to see that same sort of exponential growth in EV sales if we can get around these supply issues.”
Kyriazis said demand in Canada is strong, pointing to a recent survey Clean Energy Canada did that found 80 per cent of Canadians were open to buying an electric car before the recent spike in gas prices.
She said the issue is availability.
“Record-low inventory levels are making it so dealerships can’t keep up and Canadian drivers are waiting not just months, but in some cases years, to get their hands on a new EV,” she said.
Canada has set targets that by 2030, half of new cars registered will be zero-emission vehicles, and by 2035, all of them. That includes battery-only, plug-in hybrid and hydrogen-fuel cell vehicles.
Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault is currently consulting on how best to hit those targets, including a mandatory sales quota system similar to those that already exist provincially in Quebec and British Columbia.
Dealerships that don’t sell a big enough proportion of zero-emission vehicles face financial penalties.
Kyriazis said sales mandates are a critical part of the solution because they compel automakers to adjust their production and distribution of vehicles and she said Guilbeault has to follow through with one nationally.
In a written statement Monday, Guilbeault said the government remains committed to doing it.
Three in every four electric vehicles registered in Canada last year were sold in B.C. and Quebec. Kyriazis said the mandates are the main reason because they compel automakers to ship most of the available electric vehicles to dealers in those provinces.
Quebec and B.C. also have provincial rebates layered on top of the $2,500 to $5,000 rebate offered by the federal government for many new electric car purchases.
Brian Kingston, president of the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers’ Association, said automakers believe the rebates, not the sales quotas, are what makes the difference.
“We don’t see evidence of ZEV mandates or quotas having any impact on demand,” he said. “In both B.C. and Quebec, we saw an uptick the moment the (cash) incentive came in place.”
In Ontario, when the newly elected Progressive Conservative government did away with a provincial rebate in 2018, sales plummeted. Last spring, when Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick introduced provincial ZEV rebates, electric car sales began to climb.
Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador also started rebate programs last year but their EV sales statistics aren’t reported individually by Statistics Canada.
Kingston’s group represents Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, which account for almost two-thirds of the passenger vehicles produced in Canada. The association last week launched a campaign to push the federal government to do more for EV adoption, including investing in public education, investing more in public charging networks, increasing the size of the rebate as much as another $10,000, and expanding which cars qualify for it.
The next federal budget is widely expected to expand the program to used vehicles and more expensive ones, though it’s not clear how much bigger the rebate would get.
The automakers do not want the government to proceed with a sales mandate.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 14, 2022.
Most job search advice is cookie-cutter. The advice you’re following is almost certainly the same advice other job seekers follow, making you just another candidate following the same script.
In today’s hyper-competitive job market, standing out is critical, a challenge most job seekers struggle with. Instead of relying on generic questions recommended by self-proclaimed career coaches, which often lead to a forgettable interview, ask unique, thought-provoking questions that’ll spark engaging conversations and leave a lasting impression.
Your level of interest in the company and the role.
Contributing to your employer’s success is essential.
You desire a cultural fit.
Here are the top four questions experts recommend candidates ask; hence, they’ve become cliché questions you should avoid asking:
“What are the key responsibilities of this position?”
Most likely, the job description answers this question. Therefore, asking this question indicates you didn’t read the job description. If you require clarification, ask, “How many outbound calls will I be required to make daily?” “What will be my monthly revenue target?”
“What does a typical day look like?”
Although it’s important to understand day-to-day expectations, this question tends to elicit vague responses and rarely leads to a deeper conversation. Don’t focus on what your day will look like; instead, focus on being clear on the results you need to deliver. Nobody I know has ever been fired for not following a “typical day.” However, I know several people who were fired for failing to meet expectations. Before accepting a job offer, ensure you’re capable of meeting the employer’s expectations.
“How would you describe the company culture?”
Asking this question screams, “I read somewhere to ask this question.” There are much better ways to research a company’s culture, such as speaking to current and former employees, reading online reviews and news articles. Furthermore, since your interviewer works for the company, they’re presumably comfortable with the culture. Do you expect your interviewer to give you the brutal truth? “Be careful of Craig; get on his bad side, and he’ll make your life miserable.” “Bob is close to retirement. I give him lots of slack, which the rest of the team needs to pick up.”
Truism: No matter how much due diligence you do, only when you start working for the employer will you experience and, therefore, know their culture firsthand.
“What opportunities are there for professional development?”
When asked this question, I immediately think the candidate cares more about gaining than contributing, a showstopper. Managing your career is your responsibility, not your employer’s.
Cliché questions don’t impress hiring managers, nor will they differentiate you from your competition. To transform your interaction with your interviewer from a Q&A session into a dynamic discussion, ask unique, insightful questions.
Here are my four go-to questions—I have many more—to accomplish this:
“Describe your management style. How will you manage me?”
This question gives your interviewer the opportunity to talk about themselves, which we all love doing. As well, being in sync with my boss is extremely important to me. The management style of who’ll be my boss is a determining factor in whether or not I’ll accept the job.
“What is the one thing I should never do that’ll piss you off and possibly damage our working relationship beyond repair?”
This question also allows me to determine whether I and my to-be boss would be in sync. Sometimes I ask, “What are your pet peeves?”
“When I join the team, what would be the most important contribution you’d want to see from me in the first six months?”
Setting myself up for failure is the last thing I want. As I mentioned, focus on the results you need to produce and timelines. How realistic are the expectations? It’s never about the question; it’s about what you want to know. It’s important to know whether you’ll be able to meet or even exceed your new boss’s expectations.
“If I wanted to sell you on an idea or suggestion, what do you need to know?”
Years ago, a candidate asked me this question. I was impressed he wasn’t looking just to put in time; he was looking for how he could be a contributing employee. Every time I ask this question, it leads to an in-depth discussion.
Other questions I’ve asked:
“What keeps you up at night?”
“If you were to leave this company, who would follow?”
“How do you handle an employee making a mistake?”
“If you were to give a Ted Talk, what topic would you talk about?”
“What are three highly valued skills at [company] that I should master to advance?”
“What are the informal expectations of the role?”
“What is one misconception people have about you [or the company]?”
Your questions reveal a great deal about your motivations, drive to make a meaningful impact on the business, and a chance to morph the questioning into a conversation. Cliché questions don’t lead to meaningful discussions, whereas unique, thought-provoking questions do and, in turn, make you memorable.
Nick Kossovan, a well-seasoned veteran of the corporate landscape, offers “unsweetened” job search advice. You can send Nick your questions to artoffindingwork@gmail.com.
CALGARY – Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. reported a third-quarter profit of $2.27 billion, down from $2.34 billion in the same quarter last year.
The company says the profit amounted to $1.06 per diluted share for the quarter that ended Sept. 30 compared with $1.06 per diluted share a year earlier.
Product sales totalled $10.40 billion, down from $11.76 billion in the same quarter last year.
Daily production for the quarter averaged 1,363,086 barrels of oil equivalent per day, down from 1,393,614 a year ago.
On an adjusted basis, Canadian Natural says it earned 97 cents per diluted share for the quarter, down from an adjusted profit of $1.30 per diluted share in the same quarter last year.
The average analyst estimate had been for a profit of 90 cents per share, according to LSEG Data & Analytics.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 31, 2024.
CALGARY – Cenovus Energy Inc. reported its third-quarter profit fell compared with a year as its revenue edged lower.
The company says it earned $820 million or 42 cents per diluted share for the quarter ended Sept. 30, down from $1.86 billion or 97 cents per diluted share a year earlier.
Revenue for the quarter totalled $14.25 billion, down from $14.58 billion in the same quarter last year.
Total upstream production in the quarter amounted to 771,300 barrels of oil equivalent per day, down from 797,000 a year earlier.
Total downstream throughput was 642,900 barrels per day compared with 664,300 in the same quarter last year.
On an adjusted basis, Cenovus says its funds flow amounted to $1.05 per diluted share in its latest quarter, down from adjusted funds flow of $1.81 per diluted share a year earlier.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 31, 2024.
