“EV’s – Electric Vehicles”

Of all the coercive environmental policies implemented by the Trudeau government, the electric vehicle mandate was among the worst, but Prime Minister Mark Carney has been mum on whether Ottawa still intends to force Canadians to ride around in souped-up Power Wheels.

EVs are almost comically unsuited to a vast, cold country like Canada.

Justin Trudeau’s legacy is alive and well in Mark Carney’s iteration of Canada’s Liberal Party. While the former PM’s deeply unpopular carbon tax may have been scrapped, his spirit of phony solutions to the ‘climate-change crisis’ prevails.

Across the border, US president Donald Trump has nixed any attempts at electric-vehicle (EV) mandates, saying, ‘electric cars are fine, but not everyone should be forced to own one’. By contrast, the Canadian Liberal Party has maintained its plan to ensure 20 per cent of new passenger vehicles sold in 2026 are either battery-powered or plug-in hybrid models. It intends to increase that number to 60 per cent by 2030, and to 100 per cent by 2035.

Environment group warns against repealing federal EV mandate

An environmental think tank is warning the federal government against repealing its electric vehicle mandate, instead suggesting that politicians should be helping to put more EVs on the road.

In a statement published Friday, Clean Energy Canada gave three recommendations to the federal government to help deliver affordable EVs to Canadians for less than $40,000.
The group, based out of Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, said Ottawa should retool its EV mandate by revisiting its near-term targets to help the auto sector “weather this temporary storm” of slumping EV sales.

It’s not always the unexpected that gets governments in trouble — often enough it’s their own bad judgement, poor timing or general clumsiness that gets in the way. But the unanticipated does happen a lot.

Parties and politicians put time and effort into concocting a set of policies aimed at winning votes by proposing remedies to problems identified as occupying top rungs of current voter concern. If they’re lucky they get elected, presumably intending to put those policies into effect at the earliest opportunity. Then the world shifts and pulls the rug from under them.

With U.S. tariffs on steel, aluminum and light-duty vehicles continuing to batter the Canadian automobile industry, the CEOs of Canada’s big three automakers are asking for a break.

They met with Prime Minister Mark Carney this week to lobby for the elimination of the Liberal government’s zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate. Maintaining it, they say, will cripple their companies and put thousands of jobs at risk.

Mark Carney’s Liberal government recently stated it will continue the proposed ban on the sale of all gas-powered cars in Canada by 2035.

Unfortunately, although Ottawa has attempted to justify its ban on gas-powered vehicles by labelling EVs as a cornerstone of any socially responsible and environmentally friendly society, it is readily apparent the myriad socio-political and environmental benefits the Carney government purports to chase are not at all a necessary consequence of EVs in any capacity.

“It’s lunacy. Straight-up lunacy.”

The words come from Devin Dreeshen, the Alberta government’s point man on transportation.

He has nothing against electric vehicles, EVs for short. You want one, buy one.

He just doesn’t think the government in Ottawa should be ramming the purchase of them down people’s throats.

OTTAWA — The head of a national association representing the electric transportation industry says the federal government, and provinces with a zero-emission vehicle sales mandate, should make “short-term adjustments” to their programs at the risk of the policy going the way of the now-cancelled consumer carbon tax.

Electric Mobility Canada President Daniel Breton’s comments come as auto-makers and others in the industry express a fresh round of concerns about the Liberals’ sales mandate, which has set a target of reaching 100-per-cent zero-emission vehicle sales by 2035, beginning with initial targets of hitting 60 per cent by 2030 and at least 20 per cent by 2026.

OTTAWA — As Canada approaches a critical starting point for its electric vehicle goals, pressure is building on Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government to rethink its plan.

Starting next year, the Liberal plan to get more electric vehicles on the road will enter its first phase: mandating sales targets for car companies, which could purchase credits, including by spending on charging infrastructure, or face penalties for not complying.