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‘Both are flawed’: Car capital's Unifor leader on Liberal, Conservative auto strategies
Carney’s Liberal Plan (EV‑Focused)
Goal: Make Canada a global EV hub.
Tools:
- Billions in EV investments
- Incentives for EV buyers
- New trade partnerships beyond the U.S.
Unifor’s critique:
- Canada cannot diversify away from the U.S. in autos.
- “We sell 90% of our cars to the U.S. Europe, China, Japan don’t buy Canadian cars.”

Poilievre’s Conservative Plan (Auto Pact 2.0)
Goal: Restore tariff‑free access to the U.S.
Tools:
- Revive a modern Auto Pact
- Remove GST from Canadian‑made vehicles
Unifor’s critique:
- The math doesn’t work in 2026.
- The 1965-style one-for-one system is impossible when dozens of global automakers ship 5 million vehicles into North America.

What Workers Actually Want (According to Unifor)
James Stewart (Unifor Local 444) is blunt:
Top priorities:
- Fix U.S. trade barriers first
- Protect jobs
- Stay committed to EVs (because the world is moving that way)

Stewart’s strongest points:
- “Both plans are flawed.”
- “Donald Trump doesn’t understand the industry. Canada isn’t the U.S.’s problem — the 5 million non‑North‑American imports are.”
- “Pausing EVs puts Canada behind the world in 5–10 years.”

Industry Analyst View: Poilievre’s Plan Won’t Work
Tom Venetis says:
- The Conservative proposal is poorly timed with CUSMA talks looming.
- It revives an outdated Auto Pact idea that won’t function in today’s globalized market.
- It adds uncertainty and fragments Canada’s negotiating position.

Both parties are pitching incomplete solutions.
- Carney’s plan ignores the reality that Canada’s auto market is structurally dependent on the U.S.
- Poilievre’s plan ignores the reality that the old Auto Pact is structurally impossible today.
- Workers want Ottawa to fix U.S. trade barriers first, then build a long‑term EV‑based strategy.

It's called a knockdown kit, and it's not manufacturing."

Dr Strangelove wrote: Wed Apr 01, 2026 2:51 pm It's called a knockdown kit, and it's not manufacturing."

That's how many companies work now. Magna is basically a parts assembler, and they knock together everything from Dodge to BMWs.

There is talk that Chinese companies could import the knockdown kits hand have local labour assemble them. Not ideal, but it's work and could have affordable sales in Canada.

Chinese automakers and suppliers are now operating at a level that shocked Honda’s leadership:

The Shanghai factory he visited had no humans on the production floor — everything was automated.

The same supplier also provides parts to Tesla.

Chinese companies can develop a new car in 18–24 months, roughly half the time of most global automakers.

Honda’s sales in China have been declining for five straight years.

This combination — speed, cost efficiency, and scale — is what led to Mibe’s blunt assessment.

How Honda is responding
Honda is now restructuring its entire development process:

Thousands of engineers are being moved into a more independent R&D unit to speed up innovation.

The company is trying to cut development time and modernize its EV strategy.

Executives described being “overwhelmed by the Chinese” at recent auto shows.

This is part of a broader panic across Japanese and Western automakers as China’s EV industry pulls ahead.