Tausi Insider

One of the country’s largest gas-station operators is doubling its plans to install rapid chargers for electric vehicles at its locations in Western Canada – a possible glimpse of a more convenient future for EV drivers nationwide struggling with inadequate infrastructure. Parkland Corp. PKI-T, which operates stations under brands such as Chevron, Esso and Pioneer, is announcing Friday that it now plans to install between two and four charging ports at 50 of its locations, up from the 25 announced last year. Most of the new chargers will be in British Columbia, along with two stations in Alberta. The Calgary-based company’s expanded rollout is being partly subsidized by a $5-million federal grant and $1.8-million from the B.C. government. The chargers, able to top up vehicle batteries in 20 to 30 minutes, are being supplied by California-based Freewire Technologies, with which Parkland announced a partnership in October. “The idea is to create a network that allows driving from Vanco...

Royal Bank of Canada’s RY-T proposed $13.5-billion takeover of HSBC Bank Canada will face scrutiny from Canada’s competition watchdogs in the year ahead, but critics say their leash is too short while efforts in the U.S. point to potential ways of doing it better. The proposed deal comes amid a widespread rethink in how corporate consolidation has been treated for decades, with potential new rules in the works both in Canada and the U.S. Current Canadian laws generally don’t challenge an acquisition over market power concerns if it leaves the company with less than 35 per cent of market share, which means many smaller deals don’t face enough scrutiny, said Keldon Bester, a fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation who studies competition and monopoly power. “A key issue is that our competition law really only pays attention to the big guys, and often misses the value that the small players play.” He said the loss of HSBC’s Canadian division would remove a player th...