This article was written by Rachel Doran and Joanna Kyriazias, and was published in the Toronto Star on June 9, 2025.
RACHEL DORAN IS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AND JOANNA KYRIAZIS IS DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS AT CLEAN ENERGY CANADA, A THINK TANK AT SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY’S MORRIS J. WOSK CENTRE FOR DIALOGUE.
You may have heard this one before: governments are “forcing” people to buy electric vehicles. It’s how U.S. President Donald Trump described the efforts of his predecessor and some in Canada have similarly accused the feds and certain provinces of pushing their green agenda on uninterested drivers.
For the record, drivers are not uninterested. A new survey from Abacus Data commissioned by Clean Energy Canada finds that 45 per cent of Canadians are inclined to get an EV as their next vehicle and that share is considerably higher in urban areas (55 per cent in the GTHA and a whopping 69 per cent in Metro Vancouver) and among younger Canadians (57 per cent of those under 30).
But there’s no doubt Canada is starting to fall behind. By the end of this year, more than oneinfour vehicles sold worldwide will be electric, up from oneinfive in 2024. Here in Canada, EVs made up 15.4 per cent of car sales last year, but due to a (hopefully temporary) pause of EV incentives nationally and in B.C., 2025 could go down as the first year that EV sales decline in Canada — even as they accelerate globally.
Which raises the question: Canadians are some of the richest inhabitants on planet Earth, so why are we turning into a technological backwater? More to the point, why can we not access so many of the lowercost, highquality EVs being sold to consumers in so many other countries? The short answer is Canada’s walledoff, uncompetitive car market.
The most commonly known cause of this is Canada’s decision to align itself with the U.S. in placing a 100 per cent tariff on Chinese EVs last year, a move meant to placate Trump that has obviously not worked as he continues to impose unnecessary harm on our auto, steel and aluminum sectors.
Europe, by comparison, settled on tariffs of eight per cent to 35 per cent after a long investigation; a proportionate response meant to even the playing field for its local automakers. The U.S. and Canada (though not Mexico) instead erected a veritable wall. Canada’s canola, seafood and pork industries have since become collateral damage as a target of Chinese retaliation.
As analysis from BloombergNEF recently concluded, “there’s a clear factor dividing which countries are seeing faster EV adoption and which are going slower: openness to Chinese carmakers.”
And this part is key: “Even in markets where Chinese automakers make up a relatively small share of total EV sales, their presence forces competition and pushes incumbent automakers to put real effort into their EV launches.”
The critical Dword here is not displacement but disruption. The idea that competition drives everyone to up their game is as old as Adam Smith.
In the above mentioned Abacus survey, 53 per cent of Canadians say they would prefer “a lower tariff that balances protection for Canada’s auto industry with improving affordability,” with another 29 per cent preferring no tariff at all on Chinese EVs. Only 19 per cent want to keep a 100 per cent tariff in place.
But China is not the only important disrupter.
Another idea advocated by the Canadian Automobile Dealers Association sounds like a nobrainer when said aloud: vehicles approved for European roads should be approved for Canadian ones. Dealerships get more cars to sell and Canadians enjoy more choice.
European models like the compact Renault 5, a wellreviewed electric hatchback, would help fill a current void in our limited car market. The idea is a popular one, with 70 per cent support among Canadians and only 10 per cent opposition.
Yes, jobs in Canadian manufacturing are vitally important. But Canada can strike a balance between opening up the EV market the right amount, investing in while also fairly regulating automakers and incentivizing consumers. Indeed, Canada’s Electric Vehicle Availability Standard effectively applies some of the pressure that would otherwise exist in a completely competitive environment on behalf of the consumer.
There are other ways to encourage more affordable EV options as well, such as putting a relatively tight price cap on EV rebates or perhaps even offering a bonus rebate for cars coming in under $40,000.
Canada could also explore easing tariff pressure further if, for example, Chinesebased automaker BYD agreed to build EVs in Canada, employing Canadian auto workers, engaging in technology transfer and creating demand for all the upstream critical minerals and battery components we have to offer.
Finally, it’s not the case that legacy automakers can’t compete. GM is now selling EVs profitably and the company says it will soon bring back its most affordable offering, the Chevy Bolt, no doubt responding to the threat of lowcost Chinese EVs. GM’s $40,000 EV was once the most popular nonTesla electric car in Canada.
A more competitive Canadian market might just compel GM to prioritize Canada as the first new Bolts roll off factory lines. The question, after all, is not whether Canadians want EVs, but whether we’re presenting them with the best options.
This article was written by Jeffrey Jones and was published in the Globe & Mail on June 9, 2025.
Canada’s renewed push for Arctic sovereignty and energy security puts a $2-billion-plus proposal to link Yukon’s electricity grid to British Columbia’s in the realm of nation-building projects, the head of the territory’s development corporation says.
Yukon Premier Ranj Pillai and B.C. Premier David Eby last month signed a memorandum of understanding to pursue construction of about 1,000 kilometres of high-voltage line that would allow electricity to flow in both directions as needed. It would connect Yukon to the North American grid for the first time.
The project, led by Yukon Development Corp., the Crown corporation responsible for Yukon Energy Corp., ticks a lot of boxes in the quest to deal with Canada’s current geopolitical and trade problems, said Gary Gazankas, YDC’s chief executive officer.
That includes building up the resilience of the country’s electricity network, powering future critical minerals mines, providing clean power to remote northern communities and offering Indigenous nations equity stakes, he said in an interview last week.
These are all attributes of nation-building projects that Prime Minister Mark Carney has said Canada requires to buttress the national economy, Mr. Gazankas said.
“We’re definitely putting our best foot forward to be able to define this as one of those projects of national interest,” he said.
On Friday, the federal government unveiled legislation to remove internal trade barriers between provinces and create an office that would streamline approvals for “nation-building” projects ranging from energy and transport infrastructure to nuclear power plants.
The proposed One Canada Economy Act sets out criteria to declare a “major project” in Canada’s national interest, including the likelihood of a proposal’s completion, and whether it strengthens economic resiliency, advances the interests of Indigenous people and meets climate-change objectives.
The Yukon-B.C. grid connection project is not a quick proposition. The agency is currently studying technical feasibility, costs and funding options while exploring partnerships with First Nations, industry players and other governments.
Based on current expectations, it could be eight years before electricity flows.
“But when you look at any other major infrastructure project in Canada that they would potentially be looking at, whether that’s gas pipelines or significant wind projects, I think those are in the realm of longer-term, but nation building,” Mr. Gazankas said.
“The quick win is really getting these projects going and the ability to work with First Nations in terms of partnership opportunities, ownership opportunities.”
Earlier this year, Ottawa awarded the project $40-million over five years from its Critical Minerals Infrastructure Fund. YDC, meanwhile, has contributed $13-million.
Like all of Northern Canada, many Yukon communities are reliant on fossil fuels for base-load electricity generation and are seeking to strengthen resilience by adding renewable power.
Demand for heating surges in the frigid winter, while hydro-power dwindles. Meanwhile, population growth and the prospect of new mines mean more draw on the system, and imports would be highly beneficial, said Mr. Gazankas, who previously held senior positions at Brookfield Renewable Partners and Northwest Territories Power Corp.
In the summer, Yukon has a surplus of renewable energy, which means it could be net exporter, he said: “There’s always a need for the [diesel-power] backup, but the reliance on running it daily in the winter when it’s minus-30 C to minus-40 C, that goes away.”
It is not the only major power connection under consideration between north and south. Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew has proposed construction of a 1,200-kilometre transmission line to send 50 megawatts of hydro power to the Kivalliq region of Nunavut.
The Yukon-B.C. project could involve a transmission line that matches the 500-kilovolt system that B.C. Hydro operates, though many of the technical details have yet to be worked out, Mr. Gazankas said.
Peter Lonergan, spokesperson for B.C.’s department of energy and climate solutions, said in a statement that the agreement with Yukon reaffirms the province’s commitment to clean energy development, regional infrastructure planning and Indigenous collaboration.
Mr. Gazankas said equity participation by First Nations will be key to the development. “We’re having initial conversations,” he said. “We haven’t made any decisions because we want them here and now in a true partnership, and relationship environment.”
This article was written by Joe Castaldo and was published in the Globe & Mail on June 6, 2025.
Land in the district of Greenview, Alta., seen above, is the site for a potential AI data centre. The provincial government announced a strategy in December to attract data-centre operators in response to the global boom in AI.
Alberta’s grid operator is putting an interim limit on the amount of electricity it will provide to new data centres after a massive surge in requests for power from developers. But the approach could thwart the provincial government’s ambition to become a home for the energy-hungry infrastructure that is necessary to run artificial-intelligence models and applications.
The Alberta Electric System Operator said on Wednesday it is allotting 1,200 megawatts of electricity for large-load projects, such as data centres, through to 2028.
But around 29 data-centre projects are requesting to be connected to more than 16,000 megawatts of electricity – which is more than the province’s peak consumption.
“Alberta cannot possibly connect all that,” AESO chief executive officer Aaron Engen said during a media briefing. The electricity cap is necessary to ensure the grid, which transmits power to homes and businesses, remains stable and reliable, he said.
The allotment, which is less than 10 per cent of overall demand, still allows projects to come online soon, he added.
AESO has identified 15 projects for consideration to connect to the grid in the near term, and developers are required to show proof of financial security and letters of support from the municipalities in which they intend to operate. Qualifying developers will receive a pro rata share of the 1,200 megawatts.
The United Conservative government in Alberta announced a strategy in December to attract data-centre operators in response to the global boom in AI. Building and running AI models requires large amounts of electricity, and the province has an abundance of untapped natural gas for generation.
Technology and Innovation Minister Nate Glubish has also spoken of attracting hyperscale customers, the term for large tech companies such as Google Inc. and Meta Platforms Inc. that are the biggest developers and users of AI.
“We heard clearly from data centre proponents that they needed clarity from [AESO] on how this capacity would be distributed,” Mr. Glubish said in an e-mailed statement Wednesday. “Today’s announcement delivers that clarity.”
But Edmonton-based Capital Power LP, which operates generation facilities in Canada and the United States, said AESO’s approach will undermine the goal of turning Alberta into an AI data-centre hub. “We’ve got a bit of a bust here,” said Pauline McLean, the company’s chief legal officer. “I don’t think it’s actually going to meet the government’s policy objectives.”
Capital Power has a proposed datacentre campus in Alberta for up to 1,500 megawatts that is geared toward hyperscale customers, who require hundreds of megawatts of power.
But under AESO’s methodology, the project could be allotted less than 250 megawatts. “We simply will not attract those customers,” Ms. McLean said.
AESO’s criteria should be more stringent, she said, and consider how datacentre proposals align with the provincial government’s goals, whether First Nations communities are involved and what upgrades to transmission infrastructure are needed.
That could allow for power to be spread out among a smaller number of data centres, but each one having more capacity.
The provincial government has said that its preference is for data-centre operators to generate their own power, rather than rely heavily on the grid.
Mr. Engen said that concept makes “perfect sense,” but added the industry is competitive and the goal is to have new data centres operating as soon as possible. Ms. McLean, too, said building new generation capacity would take years.
“This puts Alberta in a less competitive position. Tech firms are looking for power and looking for power now,” said Shaz Merwat, energy lead at RBC’s Climate Action Institute. “But it’s hard to push back on prudence,” he added, referring to AESO.
Longer term, the province remains attractive for development, partly because of the government’s support for data centres, he said.
TD Cowen analyst John Mould said in a note Thursday that AESO’s allocation approach and the lack of clarity beyond 2028 could limit the potential for large data centres. “A lack of runway could dissuade initial investment,” he wrote. Beacon AI Centers, which plans to develop six large data-centre campuses in Alberta, said AESO’s process has not changed its views of the province’s potential.
“We remain extremely bullish on Alberta,” said CEO Josh Schertzer in a statement.
Alberta isn’t the only province dealing with electricity constraints. Ontario’s provincial government introduced legislation this week to better handle dozens of data-centre proposals that would require up to 6,500 megawatts of electricity, or close to 30 per cent of peak demand.
Utilities are currently required to connect data centres to the grid regardless of the economic benefits or energy requirements, the government said.
With the proposed bill, unveiled by Minister of Energy and Mines Stephen Lecce, the province wants to instead prioritize projects “that maximize benefit to the Ontario economy and work force,” according to a government news release.
We’ve got a bit of a bust here. I don’t think it’s actually going to meet the government’s policy objectives. PAULINE McLEAN CAPITAL POWER LP’S CHIEF LEGAL OFFICER
First Nations chief warns of pushback to controversial Tory mining bill
This article was written by Rob Ferguson and Robert Benzie, and was published in the Toronto Star on May 30, 2025.
A prominent First Nations leader is warning Premier Doug Ford to expect “fierce resistance” to his Bill 5 fasttracking mines and infrastructure projects.
Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation said the Protect Ontario By Unleashing Our Economy Act — designed to offset the impact of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs — threatens treaty rights and environmental protections.
“There will be fierce resistance from our side,” Fiddler told a news conference Thursday on the legislation expected to pass next week before the house rises for its summer break.
“We’re looking at Idle No More 2.0,” he added in a reference to the grassroots protest movement that began in 2012 and fuelled a national conversation on treaty rights, youth unemployment, resource extraction, inadequate housing and education.
Fiddler said lastminute government amendments aimed at easing First Nation concerns about the bill, including a provision to eventually allow Indigenousled “special economic zones” for mining and other projects to benefit their communities are not enough because no details have been provided.
“We don’t even know what that means,” the frustrated grand chief told reporters, accusing Ford’s Progressive Conservatives of “doing things on the fly.”
“It’s not working,” he said of the government’s approach. “It’s making things worse. It’s raising more questions about what this could look like.”
While Ford has said the concept has been discussed with Indigenous leaders, Fiddler retorted “I don’t know what he’s talking about” and repeated calls for Bill 5 to be withdrawn.
“We need to keep pushing.” As originally introduced, the bill paves the way for “special economic zones” where environmental assessments would be limited and be exempt from many municipal and provincial rules — a main point of contention with First Nations worried that would override longstanding treaty rights.
Energy and Mines Minister Stephen Lecce said the new proposal for Indigenousled zones was meant to assuage concerns that First Nations were not consulted before the legislation was introduced. “We’re fully committed to getting this right,” he said Thursday in Vaughan.
The bill is intended to speed approvals for new mines and infrastructure projects. Ford wants to use cobalt, nickel and other critical minerals from the Ring of Fire deposits in remote northwestern Ontario and get them to market.
“We’re protecting our economy so we can keep people working,” Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy said at a news conference with Lecce.
NDP Leader Marit Stiles said the bill must be withdrawn and panned the amendment promising to address First Nations concerns with the legislation in regulations after it is passed.
“It guts environmental laws. It weakens protections for endangered species. It forces a massive landfill on a community that doesn’t want it. It overrides the rights of First Nations. It gives government ministers the power to declare nolaw zones, wherever they choose, whenever they want,” said Stiles.
This article was written and published by the Energy Mix on May 12, 2025.
Canada’s biggest battery energy storage system went online ahead of schedule and under budget last week, on a patch of industrial land just a few kilometres from the Six Nations of the Grand River in Ontario.
The 250-megawatt/1,000 megawatt-hour project in Haldimand County is co-owned by the Six Nations of the Grand River Development Corporation (SNGRDC), Northland Power, NRStor Inc., Aecon Concessions, and the Mississaugas of the Credit Business Corporation, all operating through the Oneida Energy Storage Limited Partnership (Oneida LP). It was originally priced at $800 million in 2023, but ultimately came in at $700 million, Northland Power said.
“With 278 lithium-ion battery units now officially drawing and storing power from Ontario’s electricity grid, Oneida LP will receive fixed capacity payments through a 20-year capacity services contract with Ontario’s Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) and generate revenue from energy sold into the Ontario electricity grid, as well as from providing ancillary services to the system,” SNGRDC said May 7.
“Originally developed under a 50/50 partnership between SNGRDC and NRStor Inc., the Oneida Energy Storage facility serves as a model for meaningful partnerships, prioritizing Indigenous involvement in the development of clean energy in Canada,” the development corporation added. The project more than doubles Ontario’s energy storage capacity from 225 to 475 MW, will eliminate 1.2 to 4.1 megatonnes of climate pollution over its operating life, “and will support more efficient operation of traditional assets like gas and nuclear while furthering growth of renewable energy sources like wind and solar.”
The Oneida installation is now about 70% owned by Northland Power, the company said. The project received “significant funding” from Natural Resources Canada and the Canada Investment Bank and employed more than 180 Indigenous and Ontario workers during peak construction, including more than 40 through Aecon Six Nations, a majority Indigenous-owned firm.
“Oneida Energy Storage achieving commercial operation is symbolic to us on many levels,” SNGRDC President and CEO Matt Jamieson said in a release. “As a foundational partner we are especially proud to play a lead role in introducing grid-connected energy storage to the Ontario energy market. Not only does the project create value for Ontario ratepayers and our community, our involvement highlights the importance of Indigenous partnership and inclusion—it exemplifies what can be accomplished together.”
“Our partnerships-first approach to energy projects with Indigenous Peoples really enabled the Oneida vision to become a reality and also resulted in a true Canadian success story which serves as the model to replicate moving forward,” said NRStor Chair and CEO Annette Verschuren. “Today is a significant milestone for NRStor, our project partners, the Ontario government, and Canada’s clean energy future.”
“Oneida represents a pivotal step in our strategy to develop and operate battery storage facilities,” said Northland Power President and CEO Christine Healy. “Delivering this project ahead of schedule and under budget is a clear demonstration of Northland’s capability to execute large-scale energy projects safely and effectively.”
Last month, Energy Storage News cited Oneida as the “flagship” for nearly three gigawatts of battery storage that will be going into service in Ontario. It says the IESO will account for about 60% of the project’s revenue.
On LinkedIn, Royal Bank of Canada Senior Vice-President John Stackhouse described Oneida as “a really big deal” that “may soon become a model for big demand users (hello, data centres) as they explore options.”
Producers are increasingly turning to new advances in automation
This article was written by Lauren Krugel and was published in the Toronto Star on May 13, 2025.
Haul trucks, shovels, pumps and pipes are common sights at Imperial Oil’s vast oilsands operations in northeastern Alberta, but so too are robots and drones, with generative artificial intelligence a newer addition to the technological mix.
“We’ve been laserfocused on this digital journey since 2018,” Cheryl GomezSmith, the senior executive in charge of Imperial’s production, told a recent investor conference.
GomezSmith said as of last year, Imperial’s bottom line has seen a $700million boost from hightech initiatives — and that’s on track to rise to $1.2 billion by 2027. The company has an inhouse team dedicated to ramping up new technologies, and also draws on expertise from its U.S. majority owner ExxonMobil Corp.
For the past few years, Imperial has been using selfdriving haul trucks at its Kearl oilsands mine. It has also enlisted Spot, a fourlegged robot developed by Boston Dynamics that bears an eerie resemblance to a dog, for routine inspections and maintenance at Cold Lake, an oilsands site in eastern Alberta that uses steam wells to extract bitumen.
“We estimate Spot can conduct almost 70 per cent of some operator rounds, allowing us to reallocate operator and maintenance resources to higher value work,” GomezSmith said.
“We currently have two Spots at site. We have two more inbound for delivery at this quarter, so we’re well on our way to having a litter.”
Imperial is building on those advancements by expanding into generative AI, GomezSmith said.
“This is where we’re chatting with our own data to allow operations to gain realtime insights to drive better and faster decisions.”
At Cold Lake, remote piloted drones are helping save money on maintenance and they’re on the brink of being AIenabled. Sensors with AI capabilities are also helping automate pumpjack speed at the site in order to boost efficiency.
Shannon Wilson, who leads the energy division at IBM Canada, said the oil and gas industry has been using automation for a long time and it’s beginning to “take it to the next level” by incorporating AI.
In addition to bolstering automation already on site, Wilson said AI is being used to improve productivity by quickly sifting through or compiling reams of information — tasks that would have otherwise been time consuming for workers. It’s also been helpful in monitoring operations and better planning maintenance activities, reducing downtime.
Larger companies have the scale to invest in their own inhouse technology, while smaller ones are taking advantage of commercial offerings, Wilson said.
“There’s creativity happening in the marketplace and they’re buying the embedded solutions from some of their existing service providers.”
Wilson called AI a tool to “augment” human intelligence.
“Ultimately, humans are the decisionmakers,” she said. “The more repeatable a process is, the more AI can lend itself.”
This article was written by Ivan Semeniuk and Sean Silcoff, and was published in the Globe & Mail on May 6, 2025.
The LM26 is seen at General Fusion in Richmond, B.C., last week. The company is seeking US$125-million in additional funding to complete development of the device.
The B.C.-based company announced on Monday it is actively seeking funding to build ‘break-even’ reactor
Last week was a momentous one for B.C.-based General Fusion, as it conducted a successful test of the machine it hopes will lead to the development of a commercial-scale fusion reactor. That was Tuesday.
By Friday the company had laid off at least one-quarter of its staff and reduced operations in response to a capital shortfall that puts its plans at risk as competitors in the United States and elsewhere push ahead with their own efforts to develop fusion power.
“The last thing we want to do is slow things down and lose this race,” said Greg Twinney, the company’s chief executive officer.
In an open letter issued on Monday, General Fusion announced it is actively seeking new funding from private and government partners to address a situation it described as both unexpected and urgent.
Mr. Twinney told The Globe and Mail the company is seeking US$125-million in additional funding to complete development of its LM26 device and achieve the 100-million-degree temperatures needed to cross “scientific break-even” – a threshold that means the machine would be capable of producing more energy than it absorbs to ignite nuclear reactions.
Such an achievement would set the stage for building a working reactor that is double the size to prove the viability of the technology as a method of commercial power generation.
But with resources running out and investors limiting their risk in an uncertain financial climate, General Fusion says its path has become much more challenging.
“We need to weather the short term to unlock the potential of the company in the longer term,” Mr. Twinney said.
The stakes could hardly be higher. General Fusion has emerged as Canada’s champion in a global effort to harness the same form of energy source that makes the sun shine. If successful, it would be a transformative technology that provides virtually limitless, carbon-free electricity.
The practical hurdles remain enormous but governments and private investors around the world have committed about $8billion to more than 40 companies seeking to develop commercial fusion, according to the U.S.based Fusion Industry Association.
Over the past 20 years, General Fusion has raised about US$350-million in financing, with about three-quarters of that coming from private investors and one-quarter from public sources – primarily the federal government through Canada’s Strategic Innovation Fund.
But the current geopolitical environment – including the Trump administration’s fondness for traditional fossil-fuel industries – and shaky markets for early-stage technologies have eroded the company’s ability to raise additional capital. Investors have been “stepping back and moving a lot slower than previously,” Mr. Twinney said.
We need to weather the short term to unlock the potential of the company in the longer term.
GREG TWINNEY GENERAL FUSION CEO
General Fusion’s existing investors are looking for the company to bring in new sources of capital, he said. That could include financing that cuts the valuation of the company with new investors setting conditions while earlier backers who don’t participate see their stakes sharply diluted.
“We’re going to have to be flexible on valuation to raise the capital we need during this opportunistic time” for investors willing to put up the needed funds, Mr. Twinney said. “There’s going to be a burden carried by existing investors that don’t participate for sure.”
He said the company is also looking to re-engage with the federal government “at the highest levels” in the aftermath of last week’s election.
“We’re an important technology for Canada,” Mr. Twinney said.
Axel Meisen, president of the Fusion Energy Council of Canada, which includes both industry and academic partners, said Ottawa and the government of British Columbia will need to act quickly to arrive at a decision on whether to support General Fusion materially or not.
“It will be a test for the newly elected federal government to consider how to make such decisions,” he said.
Dr. Meisen added that General Fusion’s dilemma could have consequences for hundreds of specialized workers across an industry that is still in its embryonic stages in Canada and is receiving more support in other countries.
“If General Fusion scales down significantly, it will result in a loss of expertise not only at General Fusion but also supplier industries and related research centres,” he said.
Monday’s announcement is the latest twist in a winding journey for the company co-founded in 2002 by physicist Michel Laberge, who sought to revive an approach to nuclear fusion that was shelved in the 1970s. Now called “magnetized target fusion,” the method includes using a metal sheath to momentarily contain and then rapidly compress plasma to reach the temperatures and pressures needed to initiate fusion reactions.
The approach is different from those pursued by other companies, including Commonwealth Fusion Systems of Massachusetts, which had raised more than US$2-billion by last year – the largest capitalization in the industry to date – to build a small tokamak reactor that uses superconducting magnets to confine plasma.
After years of development in B.C., General Fusion announced an agreement with the U.K. Atomic Energy Authority in 2022 to build its own demonstration reactor in Oxfordshire. However, those plans were put on hold a year later when the company said it was focusing on building a new machine in Canada – the LM26 – to prove out its technology.
The machine is not designed to generate electricity because it only uses deuterium, an isotope of hydrogen, rather than the deuterium-tritium mix that can deliver a higher energy return. But it is the precursor to a fullscale fusion reactor that the company envisions as its ultimate goal.
During last week’s test, the LM26 machine successfully compressed and heated deuterium plasma that was injected into a solid lithium liner. The next milestone, which Mr. Twinney said could be achieved in a matter of months, is achieving temperatures in the plasma of 10 million degrees. Prior to downsizing, the company said it was on track to achieve 100 million degrees, needed to ignite fusion reactions, at some point next year.
“The quicker we can get capital in, the quicker we can get back to growth and demonstrating these milestones,” Mr. Twinney said. “We need urgent capital to keep the momentum going.”
This article was written by Joe Castaldo and was published in the Globe & Mail on April 26, 2025.
Rural Alberta has rarely been anybody’s first choice to put a data centre. In fact, the entire province has mostly been overshadowed by Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia, places with cleaner electricity grids.
So it was unusual when a provincial staffer floated the idea of hosting artificial intelligence data centres, buildings packed with sophisticated computing equipment, to Tyler Olsen during a meeting early last year. Tech giants such as Google and Microsoft Corp. were scouring the world for places to put them, homing in on regions that could deliver electricity to the thousands of graphics processing units, or GPUs, housed inside. These chips are the bedrock for building and running AI models.
Mr. Olsen is the reeve for the municipal district of Greenview, Alta., a collection of small communities with 8,600 people and ample backcountry for hiking, hunting and fishing northwest of Edmonton. The area is so large that Mr. Olsen lives some three hours away from its administrative headquarters, so he splits his time between locations. “I’m far from a computer guy,” he said. He’s not a dedicated ChatGPT user, either. “My speeches, I write myself.”
He didn’t think about data centres again until months later. Last September, a regional economic development body pitched a company called O’Leary Ventures, and soon executives were surveying the area from a helicopter. In December, the company announced plans to build Wonder Valley – the largest AI data centre complex in the world, requiring US$70-billion and 7,500 megawatts of off-grid electricity, enough to power about 6.5 million homes, right there in Greenview.
The company is headed by Canadian celebrity businessman Kevin O’Leary, whose exploits of late include pushing for an economic union with the United States, advocating for Tesla vandals to be treated as terrorists and pitching Kevin O’Leary-backed bacon cheeseburger frozen dumplings on QVC.
True to form, Wonder Valley is high on flash, but has a very long way to go, including raising huge sums of money and securing customers.
Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation in northern Alberta has also criticized the project for a lack of consultation. The first step for Wonder Valley is to finalize purchasing the land. Mr. Olsen, a supporter of the project, is nevertheless pragmatic. “Until they have the land and can make some deals, they haven’t got anything locked in,” he said.
Whether Wonder Valley is completed is beside the point; it’s merely an emblem of the zany enthusiasm for AI and the infrastructure that powers it. The Alberta government has a plan to attract data centres to the province, aiming for $100-billion of investment over a few years. So far, it’s working.
There are 21 requests for electricity from proposed data centres to the Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO), which plans and manages the grid. Some facilities are aiming to come online in the next two years. These projects are asking the AESO to be connected to 11,634 MW of electricity, not counting Wonder Valley. That’s more or less enough to power another Alberta. (Some requests may relate to the same facility, but broken into different phases.)
The need for new data centres is global, and mostly tied to generative AI, which requires immense amounts of computer processing capacity. As a result, AI developers say they need endless power – and fast.
Not long ago, a 30-MW data centre would have been considered hefty. Now the starting point is 100 MW. Ask anyone in the industry, and you’ll hear the most important factor when determining where to build is how quickly copious amounts of electrons can start flowing. The source of that power is a secondary consideration, even if it’s fossil fuel.
The power needs of AI have rekindled interest in nuclear energy, but that can take over a decade to come online. In the meantime, data centre operators are turning to natural gas. Alberta produces nearly two-thirds of Canada’s natural gas and has more than 563 trillion cubic feet of recoverable reserves. The province, which has a deregulated electricity market, wants data centres to tap into that supply, preferably by securing or generating their own power to avoid straining the grid.
“This is really a land grab,” said Sanjay Bishnoi, the chief executive officer of Entropy Inc., a Calgary company that develops carbon capture systems. “Speed is of the essence in terms of building out compute power, and that comes with more emissions.”
Not every proposed data centre will be built, but there will be some, possibly a lot. The problem is if it’s all powered by natural gas, Alberta risks eliminating the progress it’s made cutting greenhouse gas emissions in recent years, returning to a time when it ran coal power plants.
How to proceed is a question of values. Data centres attract investment and provide resources for Canadian companies to reap the benefits of AI. But expansion can also cause us to backslide on climate goals.
For now, the philosophy is to build first – and figure out the rest later.
A light bulb switched on for Nate Glubish, Alberta’s Minister of Technology and Innovation, early last year at an AI conference in California. Attendees talked about the huge computational resources needed to build and deploy AI models, while Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, mentioned the billions of dollars the company spent on infrastructure. “I was like, ‘Wait. How many billion?’ ” Mr. Glubish recalled.
He later spoke with tech companies about the possibility of building in Alberta, emphasizing its natural gas resources and the province’s inclination to get things done. “They all confirmed they’re looking for places all around the world that can help them scale, and the most important thing is access to electricity at scale, and speed to market,” he said.
Last December, he and Premier Danielle Smith announced the province’s data centre strategy, including a “concierge” program to speed up the process, and touting Alberta’s low taxes and cool climate. (GPUs get extremely hot, often requiring water for cooling.) If successful, it would be a realignment in the location of these facilities.
There were 263 data centres in Canada as of early April, mostly around Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, according to a private company called Data Center Map. The numbers are incomplete, the company said, and it does not have information on what these facilities do. Most of them are likely for cloud computing and data storage; anecdotally, few are devoted to AI computing.
The Liberal government under then prime minister Justin Trudeau wanted to change that. Last year, Ottawa announced some $2-billion to build and access AI data centres, while the government’s fall economic statement put up $15-billion for facilities backed by at least one Canadian pension fund.
There might not be many places to put them. The country is facing more electricity demand than it can supply, with a shortfall of 15 per cent over the next decade, according to Royal Bank of Canada. Ontario, Quebec and B.C., which rely on hydroelectricity and nuclear energy, each have challenges. A dry summer in 2023 significantly reduced hydroelectricity output in Quebec, B.C. and Manitoba, while Ontario’s plans to build more nuclear power could take at least 15 years.
The Independent Electricity System Operator in Ontario has said the energy needs of data centres will grow 450 per cent between 2026 and 2040, but the province is seeing less interest than Alberta, with five proposals to connect to the grid totalling 1,541 MW. In Quebec, growth in the number of data centres has remained flat, and Hydro-Québec anticipates supplying 664 MW for these facilities in the next decade or so. In Alberta, there are single proposals for more than double that amount. BC Hydro is completing its next long-term planning outlook, but a spokesperson said there has been more interest as a result of AI. Manitoba Hydro is seeing more inquiries, too, according to a spokesperson.
So, where can hopeful data centre operators go? “If you need that new power now, you don’t really have another option besides Alberta,” said Shaz Merwat, energy policy lead at RBC’s Climate Action Institute.
Beacon AI Centers, a new company spawned by a U.S. firm called Nadia Partners, is among the most ambitious. Beacon plans to break ground this year on six data centres located in a ring around Calgary and Edmonton, with the first coming online as early as 2027. All told, Beacon plans to scale these facilities up to around 3,800 MW, enough to power Calgary and Edmonton. The company doesn’t need all of that electricity right away, and said it will work with the AESO on ramping up. (A spokesperson added the company is also exploring on-site power generation for down the road.)
Beacon will secure the buildings and power, and overcome the regulatory hurdles, while the tenants will bring their own GPUs. Like others, Beacon aims to attract hyperscalers as customers, the term for the biggest developers and users of AI and cloud computing, such as Microsoft, Google, Amazon.com Inc. and Meta Platforms Inc.
“What will make this place attractive to them is if we can execute quickly and not have artificial constraints in the way,” said Ken Hughes, Beacon’s vice-chair. Mr. Hughes is an old hand in Alberta, having served as a member of Parliament and later as the province’s energy minister. “People build stuff in Alberta,” he said.
Microsoft, Google, Amazon and Meta declined to comment on any plans in Alberta.
Montreal-based eStruxture Data Centers has also looked westward. “We found a pretty welcoming environment in Alberta,” said CEO Todd Coleman. The company has 16 facilities in Canada, including a $750-million, 90-MW facility in Calgary equipped for AI, with the first phase slated for completion by late 2026. AI has not been a major part of its business, and Mr. Coleman estimates eStruxture has fewer than 10 customers purely working on AI applications. But that will change. “There’s a group of probably 20 to 40 large-scale target customers that we expect to be moving into the Canadian region in the next 12 to 24 months,” he said. “For us and those large-scale AI companies, we’re really chasing power.”
The nature of training AI models, which refers to the computational process of building them, could work in Alberta’s favour. For a lot of digital services, data centres need to be close to end users to reduce latency; think of the irritation you feel when Netflix buffers. Speed is important for running AI applications – asking ChatGPT a question, say – but less so for training. “It doesn’t really matter where you put that training model, as long as there’s sufficient land and power,” Mr. Coleman said.
But Alberta’s power comes with a caveat.
To get a sense of just how much electricity Alberta data centres could need, consider that the province’s energy consumption has peaked at just over 12,000 MW. The projected data centre load is not far from that record.
Alberta is encouraging operators to supply their own power, such as by setting up natural gas turbines. But the projects before the AESO, the province’s electrical grid planner, are seeking to draw power. That presents an incredible challenge to meet demand and ensure Alberta delivers consistent power, without blackouts or brownouts, and keep electricity prices stable. “We are looking to give reasonable opportunities for projects to connect,” said Bre Fox, the AESO’s director of customer projects and services. “The important message is we’re moving projects forward.”
Just because a company requests 1,000 MW doesn’t mean the power is needed today. A data centre can scale up. Even so, the AESO published an update in March making clear just how gargantuan the onslaught could be. The AESO warned that projects are clustering around Calgary and Edmonton with some requiring more electricity than most cities. In May, the AESO will provide more information on just how realistic it is to meet nearterm demand, along with other details.
The document reads as a push to companies to secure off-grid power, as is the province’s wish. “It’s going to be a lot easier to get an approval,” Mr. Glubish said. “We will not compromise affordability or reliability of our grid.” (There is some nuance, however, as even a data centre using on-site generation may still rely on the grid for backup power.)
Arguably, Alberta is willing to compromise the work it has done reducing emissions. From 2015 to 2022, greenhouse gas emissions fell 7.2 per cent as the province phased out coal-fired power, which it completely ditched last year. Burning more natural gas threatens to undo that progress entirely.
Blake Shaffer, an associate professor of economics at the University of Calgary who studies energy and climate, said that powering 6,500 MW with natural gas would roughly double emissions from the province’s electricity sector. It would be as if shutting down coal plants never happened. RBC, meanwhile, estimates that powering 6,000 MW with natural gas could raise Canada’s annual emissions by 3 per cent. “We are still in a world where we’re trying to reduce emissions. Climate change has not gone away,” Prof. Shaffer said.
Asked about this, Mr. Glubish presented a common view in the industry. “This infrastructure will be built somewhere,” he said. “These emissions are going to happen.” Alberta is a responsible developer of natural resources, and can do so better than other places, he said. “It should happen in Alberta and create jobs and investment and opportunity for Albertans.”
The province is a leader in carbon capture and storage, he said, and data centre operators have told him they are interested in using it down the road. Beacon’s Ken Hughes, for example, said the company can “paint a path” to reducing emissions with CCS, but did not say when. Wonder Valley could use CCS, too, but not at first. “Carbon capture is not really ready for prime time,” said Paul Palandjian, CEO of O’Leary Ventures, adding the technology is a few years away. It reduces efficiency, and ultimately makes the project cost-prohibitive. “You’re just going to lose a ton of power,” he said.
Entropy Inc. is the rare company intending to build CCS for a natural gas-powered data centre in the province. The project is still in the early stages, with no public timeline, but it will be fairly modest to start at 30 MW. CEO Sanjay Bishnoi said the plan is to grow to 300 MW and that hyperscalers are among the target customers. “The potential tenants are quite intrigued by the idea that they can get reliable power, which comes from natural-gasfired generation, and combine that with low carbon at the same cost,” he said.
Still, Entropy is an anomaly. Alberta is not mandating CCS, which adds cost. So why would anyone else do it? “The only way that happens is if someone else decides to pay for it, or a government comes in with a big enough stick,” Prof. Shaffer said. “All of those things I find unlikely.”
Some operators, however, point to the fact that the U.S. hyperscalers have set goals for carbon neutrality and are willing to pay more for clean power. These same companies are now imperilling these goals to win the AI race. Google’s emissions surged 48 per cent since 2019, Amazon’s are up 34 per cent since 2019 (the company does not break out its cloud division) and Microsoft’s increased 29.1 per cent since 2020.
And that was before the ESG vibe shift. A backlash to environmental, social and governance goals was already under way in some parts of the U.S. before the return of Donald Trump as President. With such initiatives becoming villainized politically, companies have cover to duck environmental responsibilities. U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright has branded net-zero goals as “sinister,” after all.
“This race to build data centres and to make people use AI is clouding our judgment,” said Sasha Luccioni, the AI and climate lead with Hugging Face Inc., which provides machine learning tools. Companies are gripped with FOMO – the fear of missing out – when it comes to AI, rather than sustainability. “AI comes along, and everyone says, ‘Actually, scratch that,’ ” Dr. Luccioni said.
A narrow way of thinking has taken over, she continued, in which companies are dead set on building monolithic data centres. A better approach could be to build smaller facilities distributed across the country. That would ease the strain on power grids and allow for more renewable energy to be incorporated, which is easier to do for a modest-sized facility. “You don’t need a bajillion GPUs in a single location,” she said.
Some companies favour renewable energy. Qscale, based in Quebec, is building a $1.1-billion data centre in the province that can eventually draw 142 MW of electricity. The first two phases are operating today. President and co-founder Martin Bouchard said that when it comes to new facilities, he is looking at a minimum of 200 MW, which would be impossible to do in Quebec right now. There is, however, a window of perhaps one or two years to secure electricity in Ontario. “There’s some potential, but it’s going to end soon,” he said.
Alberta’s proposal is interesting, he continued, though he has some reservations. “Clean energy is key, it’s in the DNA of the company,” he said. “It’s very difficult for us to envision a world where we’ll be powering AI through gas.”
Wind and solar power are not reliable enough to solely power a massive data centre, but they can be part of the mix. Alberta’s data centre plan talks about integrating renewable energy, even as the government has taken a dim view of it. Wind and solar projects had been growing in the province up until the government put in a temporary moratorium in 2023, followed by new criteria for approvals. “The grid was on a trajectory to becoming substantially cleaner,” said Jason Wang, a senior analyst with the Pembina Institute in Edmonton. “But that seems to be on pause.”
So why boost emissions, even if it’s temporary, to power AI? Wayne Lloyd, CEO of AI cloud company Consensus Core in Vancouver, suggested some of us are blinkered about energy. Canada exports some 45 per cent of its natural gas to the U.S. “We shouldn’t be under the illusion that just because we export the natural gas, it doesn’t get burned,” he said. It amounts to an out of sight, out of mind philosophy. “We feel great about it, but it actually doesn’t make any difference. We could be using this fuel to power a massive economic engine for ourselves.”
There are economic benefits from not only boosting natural gas development, especially given the trade chaos with the U.S., but also from developing AI, which has the potential to improve productivity, the logic goes. It’s a trade-off, one that Shaz Merwat at RBC has attempted to quantify. In a report, he calculated the GDP produced per tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent for a handful of sectors, including manufacturing, oil and gas, and transportation. Data centres came out on top, adding more than $2,700 in GDP per tonne of carbon dioxide. (He partly based his calculations on numbers from Amazon and Beacon.)
The important point, he said, is that Canada has choices to make about how to allot scarce power. Data centres provide plenty of bang for the buck. “God has given us this great opportunity with AI to solve the productivity problem,” he said. His projections could be wrong, but only in one direction. “If I’m wrong, I’m probably underestimating it,” he said.
Nobody really knows yet how much lift we’ll get from AI. Economists have been attempting to divine an answer and come up with divergent guesses. Generative AI, which still has to overcome reliability issues, has yet to lead to massive gains in productivity or GDP. That’s not to say it won’t. Proponents are rightly quick to acknowledge these are very early days and adoption in Canada is low.
Still, there are signs that the billions of dollars spent on infrastructure are not getting us much farther ahead. When OpenAI put out a new model in February, CEO Sam Altman tempered expectations. “It is a giant, expensive model,” he wrote on X, adding that it “won’t crush benchmarks.”
That raises an unsettling question: Is it possible to build too many data centres, especially if generative AI doesn’t prove revolutionary?
Anyone who lived through the dot-com era may sense the parallels. Back in the 1990s, enthusiasm for the budding internet economy pushed some companies to build too many fibre-optic lines, precipitating a crash and ultimately bankrupting a few players. “People have real, blood memories of the fibre overbuild,” said Mr. Lloyd. But there’s at least one difference, he noted. A technological breakthrough with fibre optics massively improved the efficiency of transmission, which upended the economics. “It does not appear there are such dynamics in the AI market,” he said.
Some AI developers are squeezing more juice out of less equipment, though. Canadian company Cohere released a model in March that can run on just two GPUs, whereas comparable ones need up to 32. Chinese company DeepSeek shocked the industry and drove a frenzied sell-off in tech stocks in January after it said it trained a model with only 2,048 GPUs. Why, investors asked, do you need tens of thousands of chips if you can get by with a fraction of that? The uncertainty quickly disappeared as a consensus developed that if AI is cheaper, more people will use it, creating more demand for the infrastructure to power it.
All roads lead to more compute for AI companies, it seems, and Alberta is ensuring it will be a destination. “I don’t think anybody who’s building something in Alberta is going to have trouble filling it,” said Mr. Glubish.
The natural gas market might prove trickier than it seems today, though. The demand for gas turbines is growing, with delivery times stretching longer. GE Vernova Inc., a large turbine manufacturer, is nearly sold out for the year 2028. The company does not seem to be in a hurry to add more manufacturing capacity, with executives saying on a December conference call that it has to be done in a “thoughtful” way. Demand tied to AI data centres, the company said, hasn’t even started to hit yet.
It’s a classic economic phenomenon. Everyone stampedes toward an opportunity and the situation changes. Something looks like a great option, until, suddenly, it’s not.
New technologies aim to help ships in the fight to reduce emissions
This article was written by Todd Woody and was published in the Toronto Star on April 20, 2025.
Across the far reaches of the ocean, hundreds of yellow, beach ball sized buoys called Spotters bob in the swell, silently measuring surface temperature, wind speed, atmospheric pressure and wave height. The real time data they collect alerts cargo ship captains of the best routes to cut their carbon emissions.
At the waterfront offices of San Francisco startup Sofar Ocean, which makes the Spotters, a large wall screen displays the locations of the buoys and client ships as they crisscross the globe. As one owned by Singaporebased Berge Bulk rounds the Cape of Good Hope, Sofar’s service notifies the captain that adjusting the vessel’s trajectory to take advantage of a nearby ocean current would save $13,000 (U.S.) in fuel costs and reduce the journey’s carbon emissions by 11 metric tons.
About a thousand cargo ships subscribe to the forecasting service, called Wayfinder, which incorporates data collected by more than 500 Spotters spread over the open ocean.
“Wayfinder has proven to be very accurate in forecasting and route optimization,” says James Marshall, Berge Bulk’s chief executive officer.
Route optimization is one of the technologies shipping companies are embracing as regulatory pressures grow to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in an industry that transports more than 80 per cent of the international trade in goods and generates three per cent of global emissions. With the conversion of shipping fleets to lowcarbon fuels likely years if not decades away, ship owners are also installing hightech sails on cargo carriers and testing onboard carbon capture systems.
Moves to limit ships’ greenhouse gas emissions are spurring the adoption of such technologies, according to experts. The International Maritime Organization, the shipping industry’s global regulator, last week approved draft rules mandating reductions in vessel emissions. The European Union in January began imposing a surcharge on ships that don’t meet its emissions standards.
“The ocean is a large place and you need lots of data to make a better weather forecast,” says Tim Janssen, Sofar’s chief executive officer.
To that end, Sofar engineered the Spotter to be easily deployed. Weighing about 17 pounds, the buoy can be tossed off the back of a boat or dropped from a plane, activating when it hits the water. The company has strategically placed the Spotters along shipping lanes and in locations where data on ocean conditions is sparse.
While satellites and other platforms monitor the ocean from afar and provide data for weather forecasts, the Spotters generate realtime maritime observations that let ship captains make small changes in their routes that can yield significant savings in fuel and emissions. For instance, a satellite can approximate the height of waves from orbit, but Spotters directly measure a wave’s actual size as well as its direction and frequency, alerting captains if one large enough to roll a vessel is headed their way.
Sofar owns the Spotters in the open ocean and there’s about 2,000 of the buoys monitoring coastal waters. The company sells a commercial version starting at $6,600. Competitors like LR OneOcean, owned by Lloyd’s Register, also offer route optimization assistance.
Marshall estimates Wayfinder cuts Berge Bulk’s fuel consumption three to five per cent across its 89ship fleet. Dorian LPG, which operates 25 liquid petroleum gas tankers, says Wayfinder has curtailed fuel consumption by nine per cent.
This article was written by Mariya Postelnyak and was published in the Globe & Mail on March 27, 2025.
Vehicle resale platform sees 48-per-cent spike in Teslas up for sale in February and March
Tesla Inc. owners across Canada are hitting the accelerator to sell, with the share of drivers putting the car up for sale spiking by 48 per cent on the resale platform Clutch in the two months ended in March. That compares with a 10-per-cent decline during the same period last year.
Data provided to The Globe and Mail by the vehicle reseller shows that the share of Teslas being sold on the platform has climbed month to month, from 2.7 per cent in January to 4 per cent this month. It dropped during the same period in 2024.
Clutch chief executive officer Dan Park said part of the surge in listings could be attributed to the weakening economy. But he added, “There’s obviously some of the backlash against Tesla.”
Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s jabs at Canada’s sovereignty and his close ties to U.S. President Donald Trump, along with cuts to electricvehicle subsidies and federal rebates across Canada, have dealt a series of blows to the brand. Charging stations have been set ablaze and dealership lots vandalized, with a growing number of Tesla owners feeling enough heat to sell.
“I didn’t buy to make a political statement. I wanted a good sedan EV under $40,000 with good range,” said Daniel Ribero of Ontario. But just eight months after purchasing his used Tesla, he has felt mounting pressure to sell it.
“I’ve had co-workers ask me if I’m going to sell, if I’m going to buy a sticker, what I think about the protests, et cetera,” he said. “You can feel the hatred online and the confusion in local Tesla Facebook groups.”
Tesla owners who choose to cash in often face the prospect of significant losses. But it isn’t clear yet whether the political backlash against Mr. Musk is to blame – or even whether demand for the car on the resale market has fallen across the board.
Tesla inventory on AutoTrader.ca, a car resale platform, spiked by 26.1 per cent year over year in the week of March 16 to 22. The average selling price of Teslas on the platform has declined by about 22 per cent from $50,752 in February, 2024, to $39,654 last month, with the overall drop for used EVs hovering lower at 16.3 per cent.
But these drops are more or less in line with previous swings, said Baris Akyurek, AutoTrader’s vice-president of insights and intelligence.
“When we look at the prices going back to the beginning of 2023 and do the same year-over-year calculations, it has been pretty consistent,” he said. “Looking at data from early 2023 onward, Tesla prices have consistently dropped in the mid-20-per-cent range year over year.”
Citing Statistics Canada, Mr. Akyurek said that, excluding Quebec, battery EV sales were down by 0.5 per cent year over year across the country in the fourth quarter of 2024. (Battery EV sales jumped 124 per cent in Quebec ahead of a rebate reduction in that province.)
Mr. Akyurek attributes this to anxiety around vehicle range, lack of charging infrastructure, higher costs compared to gasoline-powered vehicles and the axing of EV rebates.
Even so, Mr. Akyurek said it may be too soon to see the full impact from any changes in consumer behaviour.
On the ground, however, the pain felt by Tesla owners is real and many attribute it to the backlash against the company’s leader.
Mr. Ribero recently found himself on the verge of selling his 2021 Model 3 Long Range, despite loving most things about it, and he was only dissuaded by the estimated losses.
“I bought it for $38,000 … after taxes and fees it came to [$44,023],” he said. Clutch offered him around $30,000 for his car and he estimated it could sell for around $32,000 to $33,000 on the private resale market.
“So that’s a $10,000 difference,” Mr. Ribero said. “Financially, it makes most sense to ride it out.”
Other Tesla owners are pushing to find buyers against the odds. Toronto-based Tariqule Khan initially wanted to sell his Tesla owing to glitches he found with the car’s software. But the final push came after someone apparently intentionally scratched his car.
“After what Elon Musk is doing, it’s been hard,” he said. “I’m not concerned about Elon Musk … I’m concerned about the car.”
Mr. Khan had previously sold another Tesla years ago, but selling on Facebook Marketplace this time was much more difficult. “Not many people are messaging like before,” he said.
Private dealers, however, said they continue to see rising demand, though the client profile has somewhat shifted.
“Tesla is the new Corolla,” said Serguei Kornooukhov, jokingly. The car dealer at Vaughan, Ont.based Corfex Trading said clients are looking for “the cheapest possible” option.
“It’s not about brand loyalty, not about the tax. It’s not about the environment,” he said. “It’s about simplicity and saving money … you can save $400 or $500 a month on gas.”
For drivers who keep their Teslas, many try to conceal the once iconic T logo. Mr. Ribero has been thinking about covering his with a sticker or a Canadian flag.
“I understand the frustration and I am in solidarity with protests to hurt back the U.S. for their attacks on our sovereignty,” he said. “But I hope that hatred is not directed at individual owners.”
I didn’t buy to make a political statement. I wanted a good sedan EV under $40,000 with good range.
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