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VANCOUVER — Canadians in several major cities held demonstrations at Tesla dealerships as part of an international “day of action” aimed at the company’s CEO Elon Musk and his role within the American government amid the fractured relationship between Canada and the United States.
About two dozen protesters stood in the rain outside the dealership in Vancouver’s Kitsilano neighbourhood on Saturday, cheering and waving flags as cars drove by honking their horns in support.
The group held signs including “Stop toxic Musk-culinity,” “Boycott Tesla” and “Elbows up.”
Mo Corston-Oliver, who has dual American and Canadian citizenship, said Trump’s repeated claims that he wants to make Canada the 51st state are serious and “we need to get serious about it.”
She said she’s hoping the global protests will impact Musk’s sizable bank account.
“I’m hoping that Tesla’s stock price goes down enough that we can bankrupt Elon, get him out of the U.S. government, and just start taking down their power by getting rid of their money,” she said.
Hundreds of protests at Tesla showrooms around the world took place Saturday as part of what has been dubbed the Tesla Takedown’s Global Day of Action.
That includes events in Canadian cities such as Ottawa, Montreal, Saskatoon, Winnipeg and Halifax, as well as multiple scheduled protests in B.C.’s Lower Mainland on Saturday and Sunday.
Demonstrators say they want people to sell their Tesla vehicles and dump any stock in the company as Tesla contends with recent declines in sales.
Musk heads the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, and has been tied to controversies that include publicly voicing support for the far-right Alternative for Germany party and laying off thousands of federal workers in the name of saving the government money.
Musk’s backing of Trump initially helped lift Tesla’s stock by 70 per cent in the period between the president’s Nov. 5 election and his Jan. 20 inauguration, creating an additional US$560 billion in shareholder wealth.
More recent numbers show virtually all those gains have evaporated amid investor worries about the Tesla backlash, lagging sales in the U.S., Europe and China, and Musk spending time overseeing DOGE.
The Canadian protests took place amid a fractured Canada-U. S. relationship with the ongoing trade war and months of Trump claiming that Canada should become the 51st American state.
Paddy Munro said she came to the Vancouver protest as a way of standing up for Canada.
“With the 51st state (talk) we have more (people) that are standing up. That just rubbed everybody the wrong way. Don’t touch our freedom, our democracy, because we will stand strong,” she said.
Not everyone at the event disagreed with Trump’s actions.
A man wearing a red “Make America Great Again” hat, who would not give his name, said he supported Trump and was in favour of Canada becoming the 51st state.
“I think everyone here would have much lower taxes, better health care, more safety. But ultimately we need to support America as far as their geopolitical goals, their military goals, and also there’s more freedom there than there is here,” he said.
South of the border, crowds ranging from a few dozen to hundreds of protesters attended Tesla locations in New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Maryland, Minnesota and the automaker’s home state of Texas.
Pictures posted on social media accounts showed protesters brandishing signs such as “Honk if you hate Elon” and “Fight the billionaire broligarchy.”
Vancouver police said they’d be deploying more than 130 extra officers to maintain order at protests, and a handful of police officers could be seen at the Kitsilano demonstration.
The department said officers are investigating 28 anti-Tesla incidents since Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20 including “hateful words and symbols spray-painted on buildings, eggs thrown at cars, and windshields smashed” at dealerships and charging stations.
The incidents are among a series of vandalism and protests in recent months. Organizers of the Tesla Takedown event have stressed the importance of remaining peaceful.
Pat McCutcheon, who is helping to organize a protest Sunday in Langley, B.C., said Tesla Takedown is not about shaming current Tesla owners.
“Most people that have bought a Tesla over the last one, two, three, four, five, years, whatever the case might be, they bought their vehicles with the best of intentions or for the purposes that they wanted,” he said.
McCutcheon said people should be considering alternatives when looking to buy an electric vehicle.
“Musk’s wealth is his power and so we feel a way to to neutralize him is to collapse the sale of his Tesla product. That’ll bring down his wealth. That’ll that’ll maybe neutralize his power,” he said.
Earlier this month, organizers of the Vancouver International Auto Show banned Tesla over concerns for the safety of workers, attendees and exhibitors.
For his part, Musk didn’t appear concerned about an extended slump in sales of new Tesla cars in his March 20 address to employees. He reassured the workers that the company’s Model Y, which is undergoing a refresh, would remain “the best-selling car on Earth again this year” and predicted Tesla will have sold more than 10 million cars worldwide by next year.
— With files from The Associated Press
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 29, 2025
Ashley Joannou, The Canadian Press
