2 weeks Ago By Lorne Gunter
Article content On Thursday, while speaking at a Halifax car dealership, Pierre Poilievre announced that a Conservative government would do away with the Liberals’ EV mandate. If re-elected, the Carney Liberals intend to maintain the Trudeau government’s mandate that all new vehicles sold in Canada be electric by 2035. Beginning next year, under Liberal rules, 20 per cent of new cars and light-duty trucks must be EVs.
Car sales in Canada are nowhere near that level. This year, EVs are expected to account for around 10 per cent of total sales — perhaps as much as 12 per cent — with most of those sales concentrated in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver. Outside those three major cities, very few Canadians are interested in an EV, so the Liberals are determined to force consumers to buy cars and trucks they don’t want.
Poilievre’s announcement was welcome news, especially since electric cars cost an average of $8,000 to $20,000 more than a vehicle with an internal combustion engine (ICE). “Conservatives will put (Canadians) back in the driver’s seat for a change. You will decide what’s good for you and your family .
.. I have nothing against electric vehicles.
If you want one, buy one. Free choice.” But no one should be compelled to buy an all-electric — or give up their plans to buy a vehicle altogether because the only cars or trucks available are EVs, which are too expensive.
(Ottawa’s internal research shows at least 25 per cent of Canadians will be unable to afford a vehicle when only EVs can be sold.) Between now and 2035, the cost of EVs is bound to come down (although unlikely to as low as an ICE), battery range should get longer, charging times quicker and charging stations more numerous, all of which will make EVs more attractive to buyers. But the market should decide just how many EVs get made, not politicians, bureaucrats and activists.
Promising to get rid of the unpopular Liberal EV mandate is good politics. One drawback: Poilievre won’t end the Liberals’ subsidies to EV and battery manufacturers. For instance, the Liberals pledged $15 billion to Volkswagen to build a $7-billion EV battery plant in southwestern Ontario.
Even though the subsidy is twice the cost of construction, the Liberals slathered on taxpayer money just to make sure Volkswagen sited its plant in vote-rich Ontario. Poilievre won’t tear up these preposterous deals (or even renegotiate them), even though they total $33 billion from Ottawa alone. (Another $20 billion is coming from the Ontario and Quebec provincial governments.
) But ending the mandate that within a decade Canadian car buyers must buy EVs, is a welcome step. The Liberals won’t do that. They are every bit as “green” under Carney as Trudeau.
The author of the original EV mandate is former Liberal environment minister Steven Guilbeault, who is still a powerful member of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s cabinet. Carney and Guilbeault see eye to eye on most things “green.” Under Carney-Guilbeault, just as under Trudeau-Guilbeault, the Liberals plan to keep their power-grid mandate that all electricity must be generated from net-zero sources in just five years.
That’s not only an intrusion into provincial jurisdiction, it’s destined to raise electricity prices substantially. Carney has promised to honour the No-More-Pipelines Act (technically the Impact Assessment Act) and switch the carbon tax from consumers to businesses, which will undoubtedly pass the added taxes onto ordinary consumers in the form of higher prices. And perhaps most head-shakingly, Carney (before he entered politics) promoted a tax on flying to drive down the number of jet passengers to save emissions.
In a video circulating on the internet, Carney says, “We should take into account the impact of our flying on the planet now ...
You push up the tax on flying, you push up the cost on transport, and that’s in part what putting a price on carbon is.” Talk about climate zealotry..
