Automotive
Red Deer race car driver winning on 2 completely different circuits!
From Quentin Osborne at ParkerThompsonRacing.com
Contenders of the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge across the continent gathered in Montreal this weekend as both the Canada and USA branches of the one make series participated in the Canadian Formula 1 Grand Prix event. Thirty-five cars packed the famed 4.3km Gilles Villeneuve Circuit for two races. Parker Thompson ran near the front of the field all weekend, and lead much of Race 2. The final results put him on the podium for Race 1. A twenty-nine second penalty for contacting another car during race 2 negated his third place finish and dropped him to 12th after the race conclusion.
Driving the #3 entry of SCB Racing and Porsche Center Victoria, Thompson was able to simultaneously score points in the GT3 Cup Canada series and the GT3 Cup USA series where he regularly competes with JDX Racing. With the weekend’s result he holds second place in the overall championship standings in both countries.
The top two spots in both Canada and the USA, show Thompson trailing series veteran Roman DeAngelis, winner of both of the weekend’s races. As a newcomer not only to Porsche GT3 Cup, but sports car racing as a whole, Thompson has surprised people on and off the track with his ability to adapt to the series. Qualifying results on Saturday placed him in the second position for the start of both races. When the green flag dropped, he further demonstrated the pace we have seen from him all season.
In Race 1 Saturday afternoon, Thompson held second from the race start to the fall of the checkered flag. With more than half of the race being driven under a full course caution, he never found a real opportunity to challenge the leader.
Race 2 on Sunday showed more drama. Thompson took the lead on the opening lap, and found himself engaged in a tight battle with DeAngelis. Thompson would hold his lead for 5 laps, before a mistake in the critical hairpin corner cost him two positions. In the remaining laps, Thompson was tightly engaged with American racer Riley Dickenson. The two traded places multiple times before the race was red-flagged after multiple collisions among the field back markers. Thompson was in the third position at the race end, but a virtual drive through penalty equivalent to 29 seconds was later assessed for making contact with Dickenson’s car. The final Race 2 results scored him 12th overall – 7th in the Canadian group, and 6th among competitors of the USA series.
“I’m happy with our overall pace on the track this weekend, but disappointed to be leaving points on the table. Ultimately, I made a couple of mistakes that put me in a position where we were more vulnerable to our competitors. With 35 cars in the field, all of the same spec, there is certainly going to be some tight racing. There is not much room for error. I’m so thankful for the support of SCB Racing who came together with our partners in America, JDX Racing, to make this result possible. We are having a lot of fun. This #3 SCB Racing / Porsche Center Victoria car looks fantastic with its classic livery. We’ve enjoyed playing that up. Racing is it’s best when it can put on a good show. We certainly did that this weekend!” – Parker Thompson
Thompson’s busy race season continues in two weeks’ time when he returns to Indy Pro 2000 at Road America circuit in Wisconsin. After starting this 2019 Road to Indy Championship series with a bang, dominating the opening two races, Thompson has since struggled to find a winning pace. That has been only a minor detraction from a year of racing that has otherwise been filled with great achievements. Between Porsche GT3 Cup Canada and USA, Indy Pro 2000, and the Canadian Touring Car Championship, the young Alberta native has already raced 17 times this season. In those races he has seven wins and thirteen podiums.
From the Fraser Institute
During his victory speech Monday night, Prime Minister Mark Carney repeated one of his favourite campaign slogans and vowed to make Canada a “clean energy superpower.” So, Canadians can expect Ottawa to “invest” more taxpayer money in “clean energy” projects including electric vehicles (EVs), the revolutionary transportation technology that’s been ready to replace internal combustion since 1901 yet still requires government subsidies.
It’s a good time for a little historical review. In 2012 south of the border, the Obama administration poured massive subsidies into companies peddling green tech, only to see a vast swath go belly up including Solyndra, would-be maker of advanced solar panels, which failed so spectacularly CNN called the company the “poster child for well-meaning government policy gone bad.”
One might think that such a spectacular failure might have served as a cautionary tale for today’s politicians. But one would be wrong. Even as the EV transition slammed into stiff headwinds, the Trudeau government and Ontario’s Ford government poured $5 billion in subsidies into Honda to build an EV battery plant and manufacture EVs in Ontario. That “investment” came on top of a long list of other “investments” including $15 billion for Stellantis and LG Energy Solution; $13 billion for Volkswagen (or $16.3 billion, per the Parliamentary Budget Officer), a combined $4.24 billion (federal/Quebec split) to Northvolt, a Swedish battery maker, and a combined $644 million (federal/Quebec split) to Ford Motor Company to build a cathode manufacturing plant in Quebec.
How’s all that working out? Not great.
“Projects announced for Canada’s EV supply chain are in various states of operation, and many remain years away from production,” notes automotive/natural resource reporter Gabriel Friedman, writing in the Financial Post. “Of the four multibillion-dollar battery cell manufacturing plants announced for Canada, only one—a joint venture known as NextStar Energy Inc. between South Korea’s LG Energy Solution Ltd. and European automaker Stellantis NV—progressed into even the construction phase.”
In 2023, Volkswagen said it would invest $7 billion by 2030 to build a battery cell manufacturing complex in St. Thomas, Ontario. However, Friedman notes “construction of the VW plant is not scheduled to begin until this spring [2025] and initial cell production will not begin for years.” Or ever, if Donald Trump’s pledge to end U.S. government support for a broad EV transition comes to pass.
In the meantime, other elements of Canada’s “clean tech” future are also in doubt. In December 2024, Saint-Jérome, Que.-based Lion Electric Co., which had received $100 million in provincial and government support to assemble batteries in Canada for electric school buses and trucks, said it would file for bankruptcy in the United States and creditor protection in Canada. And Ford Motor Company last summer scrapped its planned EV assembly plant in Oakville, Ontario—after $640 million in federal and provincial support.
And of course, there’s Canada’s own poster-child-of-clean-tech-subsidy failure, Northvolt. According to the CBC, the Swedish battery manufacturer, with plans to build a $7 billion factory in Quebec, has declared bankruptcy in Sweden, though Northvolt claims that its North American operations are “solvent.” That’s cold comfort to some Quebec policymakers: “We’re going to be losing hundreds of millions of dollars in a bet that our government in Quebec made on a poorly negotiated investment,” said Parti Québécois MNA Pascal Paradis.
Elections often bring about change. If the Carney government wants to change course and avoid more clean-tech calamities, it should pull the plug on the EV revolution and avoid any more electro-boondoggles.
Kenneth P. Green
Senior Fellow, Fraser Institute
MxM News
Quick Hit:
Major automakers are urging Congress to intervene and halt California’s aggressive plan to eliminate gasoline-only vehicles by 2035. With the Biden-era EPA waiver empowering California and 11 other states to enforce the rule, automakers warn of immediate impacts on vehicle availability and consumer choice. The U.S. House is preparing for a critical vote to determine if California’s sweeping environmental mandates will stand.
Key Details:
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Automakers argue California’s rules will raise prices and limit consumer choices, especially amid high tariffs on auto imports.
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The House is set to vote this week on repealing the EPA waiver that greenlit California’s mandate.
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California’s regulations would require 35% of 2026 model year vehicles to be zero-emission, a figure manufacturers say is unrealistic.
Diving Deeper:
The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, representing industry giants such as General Motors, Toyota, Volkswagen, and Hyundai, issued a letter Monday warning Congress about the looming consequences of California’s radical environmental regulations. The automakers stressed that unless Congress acts swiftly, vehicle shipments across the country could be disrupted within months, forcing car companies to artificially limit sales of traditional vehicles to meet electric vehicle quotas.
California’s Air Resources Board rules have already spread to 11 other states—including New York, Massachusetts, and Oregon—together representing roughly 40% of the entire U.S. auto market. Despite repeated concerns from manufacturers, California officials have doubled down, insisting that their measures are essential for meeting lofty greenhouse gas reduction targets and combating smog. However, even some states like Maryland have recognized the impracticality of California’s timeline, opting to delay compliance.
A major legal hurdle complicates the path forward. The Government Accountability Office ruled in March that the EPA waiver issued under former President Joe Biden cannot be revoked under the Congressional Review Act, which requires only a simple Senate majority. This creates uncertainty over whether Congress can truly roll back California’s authority without more complex legislative action.
The House is also gearing up to tackle other elements of California’s environmental regime, including blocking the state from imposing stricter pollution standards on commercial trucks and halting its low-nitrogen oxide emissions regulations for heavy-duty vehicles. These moves reflect growing concerns that California’s progressive regulatory overreach is threatening national commerce and consumer choice.
Under California’s current rules, the state demands that 35% of light-duty vehicles for the 2026 model year be zero-emission, scaling up rapidly to 68% by 2030. Industry experts widely agree that these targets are disconnected from reality, given the current slow pace of electric vehicle adoption among the broader American public, particularly in rural and lower-income areas.
California first unveiled its plan in 2020, aiming to make at least 80% of new cars electric and the remainder plug-in hybrids by 2035. Now, under President Donald Trump’s leadership, the U.S. Transportation Department is working to undo the aggressive fuel economy regulations imposed during former President Joe Biden’s term, offering a much-needed course correction for an auto industry burdened by regulatory overreach.
As Congress debates, the larger question remains: Will America allow one state’s left-wing environmental ideology to dictate terms for the entire country’s auto industry?
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