Zero-emission vehicles must by 60 per cent of new sales by 2030, 100 per cent by 2035
OTTAWA – New rules for zero-emission vehicle sales in Canada will give big bonuses to foreign automakers, at the expense of companies that make cars here said one industry expert on Tuesday.
Flavio Volpe, President of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association, said the rules the Canadian government announced will undercut the domestic industry after the federal government spent billions to attract new battery plants and other facilities.
Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault released the new rules at a press conference in Toronto. The rules also set targets for car makers, mandating that 20 per cent of their sales are electric or plug-in-hybrid vehicles vehicles by 2026, 60 per cent by 2030 and 100 per cent by 2035. The rules apply to light-duty vehicles like cars and SUVs, as well as some pick-up trucks.
Automakers who miss their targets will face financial penalties, but can avoid them by buying credits from other automakers. They can also receive credits for building electric vehicle chargers and can earn credits for sales that come in advance of the new rules coming into place in 2026.
The latest numbers from Statistics Canada show that electric vehicles or hybrids made up about 10 per cent of sales so far this year. Quebec and British Columbia, where there are significant provincial rebates, are above the 20 per cent threshold.
“For the life of me, I can’t find the Tesla manufacturing plant in Canada, but we’re going to bonus them because they sell us EVs,” he said. “They’re going to hand them credits for nothing. They didn’t invest a dollar in Canada.”
For every $20,000 companies spend on charging infrastructure they will get a credit equal to a vehicle that should have been part of their EV sales target. Volpe said for major automakers that could amount to millions of dollars in spending.
Guilbeault announced the draft rules a year ago. He said by getting out ahead with final regulations Canada will get more electric vehicles, eliminating some of the long delays consumers have faced.
“We will do this by ensuring more electric cars come to the Canadian market, instead of the US or other markets that have similar targets,” he said. “The new electric vehicle availability standard now includes an early credit system to help automakers comply by encouraging them to get more EVs on the market as early as possible and even next year, and to build more charging infrastructure.”
“The electricity you buy to power your electric vehicle is much cheaper than gasoline and not subject to the volatility of international oil prices and the maintenance cost of EVs are a fraction of internal combustion cars,” he said.
Volpe said Canadian automakers will likely have to bring in cars from other places around the world to meet these targets.
“Those companies that make those cars here in Canada also make electric vehicles and other places they’ll likely just import vehicles made somewhere else to meet the targets. If you do that, you’re undercutting your local value proposition,” he said. “We absolutely need to decarbonize the transportation sector, but we shouldn’t do it by driving business to our biggest competitors.
David Adams, president and CEO of Global Automakers of Canada, said his members, which include major companies like Toyota, BMW, Mazda and Honda, want to reach these goals but many factors outside their control will make it difficult.
Adams said the federal government has to be at the table to work through the issues that will arise.
“We need a dedicated forum for the federal government to come together with key stakeholders to ensure that we are focused on the objective of the greenhouse gas emissions reductions expected.”
TOKYO (AP) — Japanese technology group SoftBank swung back to profitability in the July-September quarter, boosted by positive results in its Vision Fund investments.
Tokyo-based SoftBank Group Corp. reported Tuesday a fiscal second quarter profit of nearly 1.18 trillion yen ($7.7 billion), compared with a 931 billion yen loss in the year-earlier period.
Quarterly sales edged up about 6% to nearly 1.77 trillion yen ($11.5 billion).
SoftBank credited income from royalties and licensing related to its holdings in Arm, a computer chip-designing company, whose business spans smartphones, data centers, networking equipment, automotive, consumer electronic devices, and AI applications.
The results were also helped by the absence of losses related to SoftBank’s investment in office-space sharing venture WeWork, which hit the previous fiscal year.
WeWork, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2023, emerged from Chapter 11 in June.
SoftBank has benefitted in recent months from rising share prices in some investment, such as U.S.-based e-commerce company Coupang, Chinese mobility provider DiDi Global and Bytedance, the Chinese developer of TikTok.
SoftBank’s financial results tend to swing wildly, partly because of its sprawling investment portfolio that includes search engine Yahoo, Chinese retailer Alibaba, and artificial intelligence company Nvidia.
SoftBank makes investments in a variety of companies that it groups together in a series of Vision Funds.
The company’s founder, Masayoshi Son, is a pioneer in technology investment in Japan. SoftBank Group does not give earnings forecasts.
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Yuri Kageyama is on X:
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
Shopify Inc. executives brushed off concerns that incoming U.S. President Donald Trump will be a major detriment to many of the company’s merchants.
“There’s nothing in what we’ve heard from Trump, nor would there have been anything from (Democratic candidate) Kamala (Harris), which we think impacts the overall state of new business formation and entrepreneurship,” Shopify’s chief financial officer Jeff Hoffmeister told analysts on a call Tuesday.
“We still feel really good about all the merchants out there, all the entrepreneurs that want to start new businesses and that’s obviously not going to change with the administration.”
Hoffmeister’s comments come a week after Trump, a Republican businessman, trounced Harris in an election that will soon return him to the Oval Office.
On the campaign trail, he threatened to impose tariffs of 60 per cent on imports from China and roughly 10 per cent to 20 per cent on goods from all other countries.
If the president-elect makes good on the promise, many worry the cost of operating will soar for companies, including customers of Shopify, which sells e-commerce software to small businesses but also brands as big as Kylie Cosmetics and Victoria’s Secret.
These merchants may feel they have no choice but to pass on the increases to customers, perhaps sparking more inflation.
If Trump’s tariffs do come to fruition, Shopify’s president Harley Finkelstein pointed out China is “not a huge area” for Shopify.
However, “we can’t anticipate what every presidential administration is going to do,” he cautioned.
He likened the uncertainty facing the business community to the COVID-19 pandemic where Shopify had to help companies migrate online.
“Our job is no matter what comes the way of our merchants, we provide them with tools and service and support for them to navigate it really well,” he said.
Finkelstein was questioned about the forthcoming U.S. leadership change on a call meant to delve into Shopify’s latest earnings, which sent shares soaring 27 per cent to $158.63 shortly after Tuesday’s market open.
The Ottawa-based company, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, reported US$828 million in net income for its third quarter, up from US$718 million in the same quarter last year, as its revenue rose 26 per cent.
Revenue for the period ended Sept. 30 totalled US$2.16 billion, up from US$1.71 billion a year earlier.
Subscription solutions revenue reached US$610 million, up from US$486 million in the same quarter last year.
Merchant solutions revenue amounted to US$1.55 billion, up from US$1.23 billion.
Shopify’s net income excluding the impact of equity investments totalled US$344 million for the quarter, up from US$173 million in the same quarter last year.
Daniel Chan, a TD Cowen analyst, said the results show Shopify has a leadership position in the e-commerce world and “a continued ability to gain market share.”
In its outlook for its fourth quarter of 2024, the company said it expects revenue to grow at a mid-to-high-twenties percentage rate on a year-over-year basis.
“Q4 guidance suggests Shopify will finish the year strong, with better-than-expected revenue growth and operating margin,” Chan pointed out in a note to investors.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
Companies in this story: (TSX:SHOP)
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
TORONTO – RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust says it has cut almost 10 per cent of its staff as it deals with a slowdown in the condo market and overall pushes for greater efficiency.
The company says the cuts, which amount to around 60 employees based on its last annual filing, will mean about $9 million in restructuring charges and should translate to about $8 million in annualized cash savings.
The job cuts come as RioCan and others scale back condo development plans as the market softens, but chief executive Jonathan Gitlin says the reductions were from a companywide efficiency effort.
RioCan says it doesn’t plan to start any new construction of mixed-use properties this year and well into 2025 as it adjusts to the shifting market demand.
The company reported a net income of $96.9 million in the third quarter, up from a loss of $73.5 million last year, as it saw a $159 million boost from a favourable change in the fair value of investment properties.
RioCan reported what it says is a record-breaking 97.8 per cent occupancy rate in the quarter including retail committed occupancy of 98.6 per cent.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
Companies in this story: (TSX:REI.UN)
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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