this post was submitted on 26 Aug 2024
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That'll help prices remain competitive....Right?
It will help keep prices competitive in the long term. Chinese EV makers aren't competing in a free market as they are heavily subsidized by the government. It's no different from what Silicon Valley VCs do, pump loads of capital into a new industry so that it's difficult for any competitors to emerge. Once a company has a monopoly on a market innovation suffers, products stagnate or actively get worse, prices increase with a lack of competition, and the consumer suffers. In the case of EVs, there is the added issue of manufacturing capacity which is important for security. While I would love a cheap new EV now, I would prefer for my children to have sustainable cheap EVs in the future.
So what is stopping canada from subsidizing our own cheap EVs?
We are.
Canada's PBO estimates total corresponding government support (for EV capital and operating expenses) to be up to $52.5 billion Source
Oil companies and the ICE manufacturers that rely on them.
Changing production lines to EVs is expensive, and they want profits now. Not later. Line must go UP
"China isn't operating as a free market like we do, this is just like what silicon valley does in our free market"
That's a strawman. I never said the US was operating in a completely free market, I used the VC example because it's relatable. We all remember when Uber and Amazon were cheap and we were told that these new cheap prices were the new norm. Then the VC capital ran out in the case of Uber and the online market was monopolized in the case of Amazon and the prices are now higher because existing competition was destroyed.
Silicon Valley which is also heavily subsidized by the US government.
My issue is more along the lines of our government making policies like these while refusing to enact policies to help with the overall cost of living. You're not wrong about what the Chinese subsidies and I know one can say "Well you can focus on both". It's just that I see more of a focus on the one issue and not both. So when they take something affordable, jack up the price, and do nothing to help with the overall affordability in our day to day lives; I just feel like that's a slap in the face.
The majority of the cost of living stuff needs to be solved at the provincial and municipal level, you should learn about the different powers each level has.
I did. I also know that a lot of the major changes done by the provincial and municipal governments come from federal funding.
I know premiers like Doug Ford are just as responsible for this predicament, if not even more. I'm just saying the federal government can do more than it currently is.
Not without infringing on provincial and municipal powers and you shouldn't be in favor of that because the closer a government is to you the more power you have over it.
I'm not saying they step in and do it for them. I'm saying they help fund it. Provincial funding is limited. For big projects, it almost always includes federal funding.
Funding it is overstepping, if the federal government has enough money to fund things that fall under provincial jurisdiction it only means you're paying too much federal taxes.
You're welcome to think that. Just understand that's not actually what's happening. A lot of projects have funding at the federal level.
https://housing-infrastructure.canada.ca/plan/icip-proj-piic-eng.html
Here's the list if you don't believe me. You can filter by province if you'd like.
You think I don't know that? It's an issue as well, federal vs provincial powers are defined but the federal government can't help but interfere? Well, there's a fucking issue with the federation and the amount of taxes that they collect then!
Remember, every time the federal government is giving money to finance programs that fall under provincial jurisdiction (when they're not simply running the program) it's a government mostly elected by people of other provinces that's deciding that and you're just one out of 28+ millions electors, come next election the government can switch and all that financing can simply stop even if your province (where your voice is a much higher percentage of the eligible voters) has been electing the same kind of politicians for decades, won't matter, people in other provinces decided that your province was gonna lose funding for programs that benefit you.