Canada's EV Bet Runs Into Weaker-Than-Expected Demand
Federal and provincial governments bet billions on the rapid rise of the electric vehicle industry. CBC reports that major EV and battery projects in Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia have since been delayed, cancelled, suspended or substantially changed — and in one case gone bankrupt — as automakers and suppliers adjust to weaker-than-anticipated demand. That list is not a single verdict. A delay, a suspension and a bankruptcy are different outcomes, and counting them in one column flattens the difference. The common thread the reporting identifies is demand that arrived weaker than planned, which turns a question about industrial policy into a question about timing.
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The bet may not have been wrong about electric vehicles existing. It looks wrong about the pace — if weaker-than-expected demand is the thread running through all of it.
“Substantially changed” is doing quiet work in that list. A project that gets re-scoped is not the same as one that is cancelled, and the story counts both.