📢Creative craft beverage campaign closing soon, New podcast and Inside Canada’s new EV deal with China

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🍻 Collective Arts closing in 1 day!

Collective Arts is closing tomorrow! Be a part of a Canadian beverage brand that puts creativity and community first, with every can showcasing art from emerging artists and every dollar staying rooted in Canadian culture. This is your chance to invest in the future of Canadian creativity.

Invest in Collective Arts | $266K Raised | 53% of target

🔔 Alumni updates

✨ KIIMA (refillable personal care) is a partner of the new season of Survivor Québec, one of Quebec’s most watched shows. Learn more here.

🔵 joni (a sustainable period care company) is marking World Health Day 2026 with a clear message: period care is health care. Learn more from their post.

🌾 Prairie Clean Enterprises (flax straw processing plant) is hiring a Production Shift Supervisor in Weyburn, SK. Check out the job posting.

🤔 What’s on our minds

🚗 Canada’s EV market shifts as Chinese brands prepare for entry

Canada's January trade deal with China slashed tariffs on Chinese-built EVs from 100% to 6.1%, and the industry is already moving fast. BYD, the world's largest EV maker, is scouting 20 dealership locations across Canada beginning in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), while Stellantis is in early talks to assemble Chinese EVs at its long-idled Brampton plant.

🤔 What's the deal?

The agreement opens the door to cheaper EVs, but raises concerns about how much production (and how many jobs) stays in Canada. Canada's agreement allows up to 49,000 Chinese-made EVs at a 6.1% tariff rate, rising to 70,000 over five years, with more than half expected to be priced below $35,000. In exchange, China significantly cut duties on Canadian canola, lobster, and crab.

Three GTA sites are already under discussion, with expansion into Vancouver, Montreal, and Calgary to follow. Chinese auto manufacturers, Chery and Geely, are also preparing Canadian entries. Here is the catch, the 49,000-unit cap is shared across all Chinese automakers. Also BYD vehicles won't qualify for Canada's federal EV rebate, which is limited to vehicles built in Canada or free-trade-agreement countries.

🏭 The Brampton proposal

One of the most controversial developments is unfolding in Brampton. The Brampton assembly plant has sat idle for over two years after Stellantis abandoned a commitment to use the facility for electric Jeep Compass production. A project that came with more than $529 million in federal subsidies. Now Stellantis is proposing to revive the facility. Here's what's on the table:

• The proposal: Stellantis would assemble Chinese electric cars at Brampton in partnership with Leapmotor, a Chinese automaker in which it holds a roughly 20% stake.

• The method: "Knock-down kits," meaning parts largely manufactured and pre-assembled in China, then shipped to Canada for final assembly. 

• The concern: The jobs stay in China where the parts are made. As Unifor national president Lana Payne put it: "This is not a proposal for assembly and manufacturing."

The opposition has been swift and comes from multiple directions:

• Doug Ford and Melanie Joly have both rejected the plan. 

• Unifor is calling on Stellantis to honour its original commitments to Brampton auto workers.

• The parts industry is drawing a harder line. Flavio Volpe of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers' Association argued that knock-down kit operations should count against the import quota. Since the vehicles are almost entirely manufactured in China, and called on Ottawa to clarify the rules before manufacturers lock in their strategies.

🔭 What's ahead

Canada finds itself in a careful balancing act: welcoming Chinese EV competition to lower prices and reduce emissions, while protecting the industrial base that tens of thousands of workers depend on.

The January tariff deal was framed as a bridge to something bigger, with Chinese investment in Canadian EV supply chains expected within three years. Whether the first wave of activity, 20 retail stores and a contested factory proposal, lives up to that promise will define what this opening actually means for Canadian auto workers, suppliers, and consumers.

🌐 Community Responses

Sharing some community responses from last week’s newsletter article on Wealthsimple’s predication market plans.

🎙️ Hear from our founder feature

GoodLife Brand Collective: Crafting goodness through beverage and community with Josh Vanderheide

Q:  You came from marketing and advertising before opening a brewery. How did that shape the way you built the business?

A: I wasn't a brewer when we started a brewery, which sounds like a weird way to begin. But not knowing everything forced me to learn from the people around me. Our first staff member, Parker, is still with us ten years later. Every time we brought someone new in, I had to learn from them. That ended up shaping how we lead: collaborative, open, and built on trusting the people around you. I think that's why it's worked.

Q:  Craft beer is a maturing market. How has GoodLife managed to keep growing?

A: Despite a challenging economy and a maturing craft beer market, our craft beer portfolio grew about 22% last year when the market was starting to contract. I think that comes down to how we look at product development, which is through a marketing lens, a product lens, a sales lens, all at once. We make decisions together and we make them well. The growth has followed from that.

Q: GoodLife has grown from a single brewery into a multi-beverage portfolio. What has that evolution looked like?

A: We started with craft beer at the peak of the boom and have expanded from there into a broader beverage portfolio across multiple locations. We even have a five-acre farm now where we grow ingredients for our operations. None of it would be possible without the people behind it though, we have about 130 staff now across the organization. The goal has always been to grow from BC across Canada, and we're well on our way.

🎧 Want to listen to the full episode?

Spotify / YouTube 

📌 FrontFundr Bulletin

FrontFundr is attending Vancouver Startup Week

We’re excited to be attending Vancouver Startup Week’s Opening Reception and Ecosystem Showcase!

📍 Science World
📅 April 27, 2026 | 6:30–9:00pm

For over a decade, VSW has been the heartbeat of BC’s startup community, bringing together founders to celebrate Vancouver’s global innovation scene. This year’s “Start Local, Think Global” theme captures it perfectly.

If you're attending, come visit our booth and say hi!