[Canada] Canadian Politics Redux

[Neil]

What part of car manufacturing does Canada have no experience with?

Design.

Try again

No.  The first was a home run.

[crazy canuck]

I think all the Canadian car designers will be surprised to learn that they don't exist.

[viper37]

Of course, Carney's idea about doing auto manufacturing all in Canada is pretty much unworkable.  For one thing, cars designed by a someone who prioritizes climate action aren't going to work, but even more importantly there's a lot of things that go into modern automobiles that Canada just has no experience with.  It's far more practical to try and partner with Japan or even South Korea than it would be to try and create some kind of a Maple Yugo. 

We already have (and had) bus and truck manufacturers in Canada.

Again, the problem is volume.  These do not require intense volume like consumer cars and do not require a lot of variety.  You can make 1-2, maybe 3 bus models and you don't need to produce a new model every year to satisfy consumer demand.

I believe there was an attempt at creating a new luxury electric car in Quebec/Canada a few years ago.  I can't find it now.  Not really a car maniac, I don't have memory for this.  Don't think it worked, due to lack of sales.

Anyway.

Modern cars require microcontrollers, and I don't think we have plants making these in Canada?
It's a stretch of the truth at best.  We can't "make" 100% of a car here.  We can do the final assembly.  Our cars will cost us more from now on.

[viper37]

Jenni Byrne is just getting started


Old text from 2022 about Jenni MAGA Byrne, the current lead organizer for Pierre Poilièvre campaign.

Interesting read.

There are now lots of frictions between her and the rest of the team who find PP too soft on Trump.
Radio-Canada Info had a good piece on these tensions.

[Grey Fox]

They don't make any right now but the 2 semiconductor fabs in Bromont could make microcontrollers.

Not really any advantage to do that when you can buy a billion of them made in Taiwan.

[viper37]

They don't make any right now but the 2 semiconductor fabs in Bromont could make microcontrollers.

Not really any advantage to do that when you can buy a billion of them made in Taiwan.

That's what I thought.

Total assembly in Canada could be a possibility, albeit at an higher price, but 100% fabrication is not a reality.
Although, without US protection, Taiwan is likely to fall under China's dominance, so we might be better to find an alternative soon.

[Grey Fox]

I mean, TSMCs fab is worth a couple trillion by now. You can't replace it.

 ASML's lithography machines are worth a 100 millions $ each and Taiwan's fab has at least 10 of them.

We already buy millions of their chips to assemble in different machines. Not really a problem to buy some to put in a car.

[Barrister]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/carney-double-pace-home-building-1.7497947

Having the federal government as a housing developer sounds like one of the worst possible solutions to the housing issue.

Convince me I'm wrong.

[viper37]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/carney-double-pace-home-building-1.7497947

Having the federal government as a housing developer sounds like one of the worst possible solutions to the housing issue.

Convince me I'm wrong.

It's what we had from post WWII until 1964.  Then the Federal government started subsidizing provinces, then they started cutting the transfers in the early 90s, a bit under Mulroney, completely under Chrétien.

Knowing this, look at a chart for housing prices.


I could also tell you that there is zero incentive for a private contractor to build a small house, or an apartment for low to modest income families as they won't get a return on their money.

Either the provinces do it, or the feds do it.

For the provinces to do it, they need money.  From there we have two choices.  The Federal can tax us less so the provinces raises their taxes accordingly to finance these incentives.  Or they can transfer funds to the provinces as they did from the mid 1960s to the early 1990s.

I suppose some provinces will refuse to raise taxes and build housing for low income families.

I'll say it's a shared responsibility between the Federal government and the Provinces. I'd prefer it'd be left in the hands of the provinces, but I'm kinda tired of fighting alone against both the right and the left and now the center.

[Baron von Schtinkenbutt]

I mean, TSMCs fab is worth a couple trillion by now. You can't replace it.

 ASML's lithography machines are worth a 100 millions $ each and Taiwan's fab has at least 10 of them.

We already buy millions of their chips to assemble in different machines. Not really a problem to buy some to put in a car.

The chips used in cars don't need the cutting-edge stuff that ASML builds and TSMC installs/runs.  The infotainment systems are the most demanding, but even those don't require the latest semiconductor processes.

That said, it's not like the latter chips are made in the US, either.  US manufacturers are buying them from TSMC and Samsung, just like a hypothetical Canadian one would.  The more basic stuff, the stuff made my TI and Micron, Canada should have less trouble standing up capacity for if sufficiently motivated.

[Admiral Yi]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/carney-double-pace-home-building-1.7497947

Having the federal government as a housing developer sounds like one of the worst possible solutions to the housing issue.

Convince me I'm wrong.

I consider Section 8 housing in the US quite successful at fulfilling it's policy objectives.  Providing poor people protection from the elements in a way that doesn't breed more crime.

The private sector is much better than the public sector at a few things.  One of them is ascertaining actual consumer preferences.  That's because the profit motive (i.e. greed) focuses the mind on only relevant factors.  But as Viper pointed out this renders the private sector indifferent to the preferences of people without purchasing power.

The other advantage of the private sector is they can motivate employees to produce more through the threat of firing.  Thus the advantage of the public private partnership is it leverages the strengths of the private sector and directs those strengths in the service of politically derived policy objectives.

[crazy canuck]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/carney-double-pace-home-building-1.7497947

Having the federal government as a housing developer sounds like one of the worst possible solutions to the housing issue.

Convince me I'm wrong.

Historically the Federal government was good at building housing, until they vacated the field, and the private sector does not build non market housing.

What would your solution be?

[crazy canuck]

Here is an interesting article from a Queen's prof in 2024 explaining the significance of the Federal government in building housing after the war.

https://www.queensu.ca/gazette/stories/canada-suburban-nation-because-post-second-world-war-government-policy

[viper37]

One week ago, Danielle Smith denied promoting seperation in Alberta in any way.
Link

Today:
Premier plans post-election panel to gauge Albertans' appetite for referendum

There will be tough choices for some Albertans soon. 


I wonder if the Federal government will pay for my vacation and my plane tickets so I can tell Albertans how much I love them?

[Zanza]

The chips used in cars don't need the cutting-edge stuff that ASML builds and TSMC installs/runs.  The infotainment systems are the most demanding, but even those don't require the latest semiconductor processes.

That said, it's not like the latter chips are made in the US, either.  US manufacturers are buying them from TSMC and Samsung, just like a hypothetical Canadian one would.  The more basic stuff, the stuff made my TI and Micron, Canada should have less trouble standing up capacity for if sufficiently motivated.

That's changing fast. The trend is towards a software defined vehicle with a central computer controlling most features. For level 2++ ADAS or higher you need massive computing power onboard. It's not just your old sturdy ECUs anymore.