Another major state-subsidized EV venture just collapsed in Canada. Even the government propagandist CBC admits that “Quebec declares Northvolt battery plant partnership dead, loses $270M investment/ Minister had earlier said Northvolt bankruptcy wouldn’t affect Quebec plant”. And of course no one will lose their job, or indeed face any punishment, for having once again incinerated the hard-earned taxes of millions of people on a fantasy, even after bypassing normal project-review rules to get the money blazing faster. Or for falsely claiming the bankruptcy of the Swedish parent wouldn’t affect the Quebec plant? Hoo hah. Instead, one additional infuriating aspect of public policy in Canada, and elsewhere, is the blithe way in which our leaders pull the “Jedi mind trick” when some policy collapses, telling us we don’t need to see the numbers. Thus the outgoing Parliamentary Budget Officer is trying to pry numbers on EV subsidies out of the incoming Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne, formerly Minister of Innovation, Science, Industry and reckless handouts, who thus far has refused to release them. As Blacklock’s Reporter notes, while in Industry “Minister Champagne had sought to justify subsidies. ‘This is a game changer for the nation,’ he told reporters in 2023.” Now that the money is gone, well, shtum.

It’s extraordinary the blithe unselfconscious way such politicians promise benefits they have no way of knowing will actually appear, in areas where they know next to nothing. For instance, on the EV file:

“‘Five years, that’s the payback,’ said Champagne. ‘That’s a very good investment. Talk to any banker, he would say if you get your money in five years for a plant that’s going to be there for 100 years, that’s a pretty good deal for Canadians.’”

Yeah. If. But it’s not what happened. What happened is the money vanished. Which is a pretty bad deal for Canadians and he should be embarrassed. But as Mick Jagger once said of his fellow rock stars, these people don’t embarrass easily.

Incidentally Champagne is now also our Minister of National Revenue, and thus presumably responsible for the Canada Revenue Agency which has increased its staffing by almost 50% in the last decade but can’t seem to answer the phone. And also for actually getting enough money to cover cabinet’s expensive spending plans falsely labeled “austerity”. But he won’t succeed if pet industries gobble billions in public cash then collapse instead of yielding revenue streams.

Incredibly, he doesn’t seem to realize it.