North to supply minerals for EV manufacturing in southern Ontario, minister says
At the same time a major electric vehicle announcement was being made in southern Ontario on Thursday, a federal minister was in northern Ontario hyping his government’s spending in the same sector.
Ahmed Hussen, Minister for International Development, was in the city continuing his northern tour, highlighting the 2024 federal budget.
This time he was speaking about incentives for those purchasing electric vehicles.
“The $607 million top-up to the incentive program is certainly going to encourage more people to consider electric vehicle acquisition and continuing down that road,” Hussen said.
“We need a cleaner environment and we owe it to this and future generations and that’s exactly what we’re doing to make that happen.”
Reducing emissions in the long term was key for future generations, he said. Hussen was joined at the podium by Nickel Belt MP Marc Serré and a half dozen Sudbury high school students.
Both federal politicians said northern Ontario will play a key role in manufacturing plans for the electric vehicle market.
“Greater Sudbury is a big part of that need,” Serré said.
“To make sure that we have the copper, the nickel, the lithium from northwestern Ontario. So we wanted to make sure we highlight a lot of those initiatives because these manufacturing batteries and EV vehicles in southern Ontario need to be fed by the mines and the supply and services companies here.”
Devin Arthur, an electric vehicle advocate from Sudbury and the director of government relations for EV Society, said there are still gaps, particularly in parts of northern Ontario.
Arthur said money needs to get into the hands of those who want to build charging stations, but it’s hard to make a case for getting charging stations in certain areas.
“Some of these businesses come back with: what’s the benefit to us? Do we really want this? Is this the technology that’s going to be used in the future?” Arthur said.
“But the reality is the money is there, we just need to get it into the hands of those who want to install the stations.”
The 2022 federal budget committed almost $4 billion for a critical mineral strategy, which it said set a course for Canada to become a global supplier of critical minerals and the clean technologies they enable.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Couple randomly attacked, 1 stabbed, by group of teens in Toronto, police say
A man has been transported to hospital after police say he was stabbed in a random attack carried out by a group of teens in Toronto on Friday night.
'My family doctor just fired me': Ontario patients frustrated with de-rostering
Dozens of Ontarians are expressing frustration in the province’s health-care system after their family doctors either dropped them as patients or threatened to after they sought urgent care elsewhere.
Michael Cohen: A challenging star witness in Donald Trump's hush money trial
He once said he would take a bullet for Donald Trump. Now Michael Cohen is prosecutors' biggest piece of legal ammunition in the former president's hush money trial.
Canada Post cracks down on Nunavut loophole to get free Amazon Prime shipping
Amazon's paid subscription service provides free delivery for online shopping across Canada except for remote locations, the company said in an email. While customers in Iqaluit qualify for the offer, all other communities in Nunavut are excluded.
Millions of Canadians have been exposed to potentially toxic chemicals, and they're not going anywhere
For decades, North Bay, Ontario's water supply has harboured chemicals associated with liver and developmental issues, cancer and complications with pregnancy. It's far from the only city with that problem.
As Israel pushes deeper into Rafah, Hamas regroups elsewhere in ungoverned Gaza
Israeli forces were battling Palestinian militants across the Gaza Strip on Sunday, including in parts of the devastated north that the military said it had cleared months ago, where Hamas has exploited a security vacuum to regroup.
Thousands of civilians evacuated from northeast Ukraine as Russia presses renewed border assault
Thousands more civilians have fled Russia's renewed ground offensive in Ukraine's northeast that has targeted towns and villages with a barrage of artillery and mortar fire, officials said Sunday.
Feds 'committed to doing more,' but minister offers no timeline for Canadian Disability Benefit boost
Amid significant criticism from advocates, Diversity, Inclusion and Persons with Disabilities Minister Kamal Khera is defending her government's long-promised, newly unveiled Canada Disability Benefit, calling the funds an "initial step," but without laying out a timeline for future expansion of the program.
RCMP boss expresses desire for new law to deal with threats against politicians
RCMP commissioner Mike Duheme says he wants the government to look at drafting a new law that would make it easier for police to pursue charges against people who threaten elected officials.