The news out of Ingersoll, Ontario, today is shocking… and, well, not all that shocking...

Alas, the on-again, off-again, on-again CAMI EV delivery van plant is once again… off-again. But this time it appears to be permanent, with some 1,200 workers now without jobs.

This is all due to a huge corporation, namely, General Motors, and the federal and Ontario governments betting big time on electrical vehicles.

Alas, they have collectively crapped out…

This sad saga began in December 2022. GM had just retooled its CAMI plant to build the BrightDrop electric delivery van. The revamped plant staged a gala press event, with both prime minister Justin Trudeau and Ontario Premier Doug Ford in attendance.

It was fitting that it took place in the month of December as Trudeau and Ford resembled a pair of Santa Clauses, dolling out hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer money to prop up this brand-new EV.

Cameraman Lincoln Jay and I were there for the announcement, too. We were actually invited to attend by the media relations department of GM Canada.

Alas, when the Trudeau and Ford staffers got wind that Rebel News was on the premises, we were told to leave or be arrested for trespassing.

Nice…

Now, why did the gatekeepers act so belligerently? Could it be because we had planned to ask some impolite questions. Such as: what is the demand for such an EV delivery van? And: what is the return on investment for taxpayers? And: what is the alternative if things go south?

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Oh no. Can’t have impolite queries like that. So it is, the coverage provided by the mainstream media was all about going green and reducing our carbon footprint and how surely somewhere in Sweden (or maybe Gaza?) a certain pint-sized climate activist was presumably doing cartwheels.

Indeed, the BrightDrop van was supposed to be a game changer. Instead, it turned out to be a dud. Last year, GM stated that it had only sold 427 BrightDrops in Canada and just 1,529 in the United States. Those are pathetic numbers.

Astute viewers may recall we revisited the CAMI plant last month to do an update on the story. The factory was about as active as the Hotel Overlook from The Shining. It had been completely mothballed back in May.

But at least hope abounded, even just a few weeks ago. The plan was that half of the 1,200-person workforce would be recalled in November and that production of the BrightDrop van would resume, albeit on a limited basis.

But no. Now comes word from GM Canada that the CAMI plant shall remain shuttered indefinitely.

Seems like there’s not much demand for EV delivery vans after all — despite all the fear mongering from the climate change Cassandras, plus all those taxpayer subsidies.

Indeed, here’s what Kristian Aquilina, GM Canada's president and managing director, had to say about the closure:

These BrightDrop vans are a specialized electric delivery van for commercial customers and, quite simply, we just have not seen demand for these vehicles climb to the levels that we initially anticipated.

This has nothing to do with tariffs or trade. It's simply a demand and a market-driven response.

You don’t say? There isn’t an appetite for limited range EV delivery vans? Especially in provinces and states that get really cold in the wintertime? Golly, who could’ve seen that coming?

But seriously, we feel for the 1,200 CAMI workers who are now out of a job thanks to ludicrous decisions by both GM management and two levels of government.

And what now? Does the plant get retooled yet again, even though more than $1 billion went into retooling the plant to build the BrightDrop just a couple of years ago?

Look, we’re not Harvard MBA graduates. But even we know that whether you’re selling burgers or Buicks, the name of the game is to build products that people actually want to buy. What a concept!

And it’s high time that woke corporations and virtue-signalling governments get on board with this basic truism and abandon this nonsensical carbon net-zero scam.

We simply can’t afford it. Just ask the 1,200 CAMI workers who are now out of a job…