Start your day off right with five things you need to know this morning.
Five things you need to know
Honda is set to "freeze" its plans to build a $15-billion EV plant in Canada, according to a report, despite generous subsidies from taxpayers. Nikkei Asia said that "scrapping" the Ontario project entirely is also "on the table," but for now the Japanese carmaker has decided to "indefinitely suspend" it. The report claims "sluggish US demand" for EVs has brought about the move, with Honda choosing to focus on hybrids instead of fully electric cars. It adds: "Stalled trade negotiations between Washington and Ottawa have added to the uncertainty." The project was announced in April 2024 with enormous fanfare, including a press conference featuring Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Ontario Premier Doug Ford, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland and Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne. Trudeau said at the time the project was "a game changer for manufacturing in Canada."
oopsie doopsie, $5 billion down the drainhttps://t.co/4UI0PpxEbh
— Chris Selley (@cselley) May 5, 2026
Unifor has complained that a Canadian telecoms company – named elsewhere as Telus – is using AI at its foreign call centres as a way of "altering how customers perceive who they’re talking to." Renee Sieber, an associate professor at McGill University, added: "Here’s an application that a company may say is benign, but actually could be stealing Canadian jobs."
Telus using AI to alter the accents of customer-service agents https://t.co/NDbud9UTYo
— The Globe and Mail (@globeandmail) May 5, 2026
The global energy crisis caused by the Iran war will hit Canadians soon, International Energy Agency head Fatih Birol has warned, claiming: "It will be your daily issue soon." Energy Minister Tim Hodgson, meanwhile, said Canada's allies are weeks away from being forced to "shut down operations," warning: "We haven't seen anything yet." It comes days after the federal government was rebuked by Canadian oil companies for its failure to prioritize new energy projects.
"Now, I think in this country, we're a little better off," Energy Minister Tim Hodgson said last night on global price hikes from the Iran war.
— Nick Murray (@NickMurray91) May 6, 2026
"We haven't seen anything yet — if we don't get this situation under control."
More from me: https://t.co/6ahZU2UhIW
Negotiations between the Liberal government and Alberta about a new oil pipeline to the Pacific coast, meanwhile, are being held up by disagreements over how soon the province will increase its carbon tax to $130 per tonne, according to a new report. The Globe and Mail, citing "multiple federal and provincial sources," claims that the two sides have also failed to agree on a $16.5 billion carbon capture project the Liberals said was necessary if Alberta wanted permission to build another pipeline. According to the report, Alberta "believes that imposing a short timeframe [on reaching $130/tonne] is unrealistic and would price Alberta oil out of the global market."
Alberta pushing for longer roadmap on carbon pricing as part of pipeline deal https://t.co/Xg0e7y8ADI
— The Globe and Mail (@globeandmail) May 6, 2026
The woman set to become King Charles III's new representative in Canada has failed to say whether she believes in the monarchy in an extraordinary press conference held in Ottawa on Tuesday. Louise Arbour – a liberal lawyer, judge and activist from Montreal – said only: "I will accede to a function in which I will be the representative of the Crown in a constitutional arrangement." Arbour, who was selected by Prime Minister Mark Carney, will be the third Quebec-born governor general in succession; the last person not from Quebec to be given the role was David Johnston, who was appointed in 2010.
