Automotive News Canada - May 2022 - 34

34
05.22
34
FINAL ASSEMBLY
* MAY 2022
LETTING LOOSE A BIT ON THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF AUTOMOTIVE
The plane-to-Porsche treatment
Air Canada shuttles elite
passengers in EV style
The Canadian Automotive
Museum says it needs a financial
jump-start to make the past more
accommodating in the future.
PHOTO: CANADIAN AUTOMOTIVE MUSEUM
ON FACEBOOK
Automotive
museum grapples
with losses from
pandemic
Financial assistance is
needed because it was
closed for 12 months
in the past two years
COVID-19 HAS QUITE LITERALLY
plagued the country in many ways,
and now it threatens the country's
automotive history.
The Canadian Automotive
Museum in Oshawa, Ont., is considering
applying for tax-exempt status
as it faces financial hardship after
intermittent pandemic-related closures.
The
museum opened in 1963
and operates out of a former car
dealership in downtown Oshawa.
According to the Toronto Star,
Oshawa City Council has recently
heard from several residents
who have stressed the importance
of increasing funding to the museum,
citing its historical significance
as well as its efforts to preserve and
display the automotive history of
Canada.
The museum was forced to close
for 12 months out of the past two
years because of COVID-19.
City councillors considered ways
to provide more financial assistance
to the museum during a Finance
Committee meeting in April. This
included providing a grant to offset
the costs of the museum's annual
property taxes and setting aside
funds each year for renovations
or improvements to the building.
Alexander Gates, the museum's executive
director and curator, told the
Star that he has also considered
applying for a property tax exemption.
Financial
assistance from the city
could be used to make important
upgrades to the aging building, Gates
said.
" The building opened in 1963; it
was a different world back then. We
didn't think about accessibility, we
didn't think about strollers. There
are a number of accessibility issues
that, with a renovation in the future,
we would be able to take care of those
things. "
The city council said it planned
to discuss providing financial aid or
tax breaks to the museum at a future
budget meeting. - ANC
The Lloydminster Female U13 Blazers
took a stand for accessibility at the
rink and won $100,000 from Chevrolet.
PHOTO: CHEVROLET
ELIGIBLE FIRST-CLASS FLYERS
connecting at Toronto Pearson airport
will get a little quiet time in an electric
vehicle as part of a service provided by
Air Canada.
The airline has signed an agreement
with Porsche Cars Canada to be the exclusive
vehicle supplier of its Chauffeur
Service at Toronto Pearson. It will be
available to select Signature Class customers
who arrive from within Canada and
are connecting to Asia, Europe or South
America.
Passengers will be greeted by Porches
on the tarmac and then brought to the
Signature Class Suite, the airline said.
The vehicle fleet will include the
Porsche Taycan electric sedan as well as
plug-in hybrid versions of the Panamera
sedan and the Cayenne utility vehicle.
Air Canada says integrating more
eco-friendly vehicles into its first-class
chauffeured fleet falls in line with the airline's
goal of achieving net-zero greenhouse-gas
emissions in its global operations
by 2050.
The service will launch this summer.
A similar service will be offered
to Air Canada customers flying out of
Vancouver International Airport this
year, the airline said. - ANC
Air Canada passengers who land in
Toronto can hitch a ride to the new
Signature Class Suite in an electrified
Porsche. PHOTO: PORSCHE CANADA
'
An Infiniti
commercial struck
the president of
the New Brunswick
Youth Orchestra as
being off-key
PHOTO: INFINITI
VIDEO FACES THE MUSIC
New Brunswick Youth
Orchestra schools Infiniti
on its imperfect pitch
A 60-SECOND AD TITLED " BEAUTIFUL
Mess " riled up a group of student musicians
and their leader so much that they
created a video response to set the record
straight.
Ken MacLeod, president of the New
Brunswick Youth Orchestra, said the spot
produced by Nissan-owned luxury brand
Infiniti perpetuates " a tired old stereotype
of youth and bad music. "
It shows a woman sitting in an Infiniti
QX60 crossover in the middle of a concert
hall, surrounded by a youth orchestra. As
they play an off-key rendition of Richard
Strauss' " Also sprach Zarathustra, "
the woman rolls up the windows, demonstrating
the vehicle's ability to drown out
unwanted exterior noise.
MacLeod told CBC News that the
commercial struck a " negative chord, "
although he acknowledged it was tonguein-cheek.
MacLeod
then got the orchestra
together to create a 60-second response
on YouTube, titled " An INFINITY of
Young Talent. " It opens with MacLeod
approaching the grand Imperial Theatre
in Saint John (in what is clearly a BMW).
As he opens the door, the camera shows
the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra performing
a perfect rendition of the same
Richard Strauss song featured in the
Infiniti ad.
When asked by CBC whether Infiniti
had seen the orchestra's response video,
company spokesman Didier Marsaud
called it " amazing. "
" We love that the conversation of music
education is being spotlighted, " Marsaud
said. - ANC
SAY WHAT?
They've not been on
their last legs. ... I'm
very proud of that plant
and very proud of the
Dodge brand.
Mark Stewart, COO,
Stellantis North
America, on why he
never gave up on an
electric future for the
Brampton Assembly
Plant, which will
receive part of a
$3.6-billion investment
by the company.
THIS NUMBER
$13B
The amount automakers
have pledged since March
to invest in Canada as the
industry shifts towards electric
vehicles, from a story at
automotivenews.ca.
This team's goal: Barrier-free skating rinks
U13 Blazers can take a
check - $100K, from Chevy
A HOCKEY TEAM BASED IN
Lloydminster, Alta., 550 kilometres northeast
of Calgary, has been named the season-six
winner of the Chevrolet Good Deeds
Cup, a unique kind of sports trophy awarded
to youth hockey teams that do good
within their communities.
The Lloydminster Female U13 Blazers
were named this year's winners for their
efforts to improve accessibility at local
skating rinks.
In a video submission sent to Chevrolet,
the team described how a fully accessible
rink would improve access for individuals
with disabilities, including a parent
who was unable to access the scoring
box to help keep time during the
Blazers' games or find an unobstructed
area to watch the games.
The team also hosted an event that
allowed individuals to try para-hockey,
raising awareness about the sport
and the importance of having accessible
rinks.
Chevrolet awarded $100,000 to the
U13 Blazers, whose members donated
the money to the developmental-disability
charity Inclusion Lloydminster.
This donation was matched by Ross
Ulmer, owner of Ulmer Chevrolet in
Lloydminster. - ANC
'
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Automotive News Canada - May 2022

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