Innovation Minister François-Philippe Champagne has taken on Elon Musk, after the Tesla CEO, caught up in the furor over Canada’s invocation of the Emergencies Act to help law enforcement break up protests in Ottawa and elsewhere, tweeted a meme comparing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to Adolf Hitler.

Champagne somewhat opaquely called Musk’s recent comments “shocking”—in both official languages, naturally—reminding the billionaire (and former Queen’s University student) that Canadians have “respect for the rule of law.” 

Musk was responding to the RCMP telling crypto-trading platforms that they are barred from dealing with a list of addresses associated with recent blockades and must inform police of transactions involving them.

It’s fair to say Musk isn’t a fan of Trudeau, and easy to imagine many Canadians wouldn’t stomach the head of a public company playing fast and loose with Nazi imagery. But does any of this actually mean anything for Canada’s EV ambitions?​​

The backlash: Musk deleted the tweet, but not before drawing swift and widespread condemnation, including from the American Jewish Committee and the Auschwitz Memorial. 

Tesla’s breakup with the left: So this isn’t your standard unbecoming-of-a-CEO 420 joke. It’s getting harder for lefty environmentalists who traded in their Priuses (and for Grimes’s mom) to ignore the elephants crowding the room during the pandemic: accusations that Tesla enables racism at the workplace, and Musk’s diatribes on pandemic restrictions and unions. Earlier this week, Musk chalked up civil-securities charges from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to “harassment” because he’s “an outspoken critic of the government.” 

Enter Champagne. A politician publicly scolding Musk about “stability” and “predictability” is a change from the usual. He’s used to being wooed for his love of memes. There was even talk Tulsa, Okla., could rename itself in a bid to land a Tesla factory.

But weren’t there… some thirsty pleas for Tesla to expand in Canada? Yeah, about that. Deputy innovation minister Simon Kennedy said in January that the government was in active discussions with “parties who are interested in building gigafactories,” but it’s unclear if he was referring specifically to Tesla. The Quebec government said it met with Tesla late last year. Meanwhile, Markham, Ont., is building a Tesla battery-equipment plant, and Dalhousie University houses a lab co-funded by Tesla and the federal government. 

When The Logic asked post-tweetstorm if the government was in talks with Tesla or would be pursuing any talks going forward, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada said since it “wants to build a strong and resilient battery ecosystem, we continue discussions with different stakeholders.” Quebec and Markham officials didn’t immediately respond to questions about whether they would join calls for Musk to apologize or change any potential subsidy offers. 

The takeaway: It’s been a week.