OTTAWA – Canadian car dealers will have to sell a lot more electric vehicles under new regulations finalized on Tuesday.
Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault released the new rules at a press conference in Toronto. The rules also set targets for car makers, mandating that 20 per cent of their sales are electric or plug-in-hybrid vehicles vehicles by 2026, 60 per cent by 2030 and 100 per cent by 2035. The rules apply to light-duty vehicles like cars and SUVs, as well as some pick-up trucks.
According to reports, the Trudeau government will soon unveil regulations meant to phaseout the sale of new internal combustion vehicles and compel Canadians to buy zero-emission vehicles. The Biden administration is also mandating a similar shift. T
These initiatives, however, overlook two realities — consumer preferences are not easily swayed by top-down government directives and the unrealistic timeline for minerals crucial for electric vehicles (EV) raises serious doubts about the likelihood of success.
Surprising article from the Star.
It makes the case that Trudeau’s EV nuttery is doomed to failure without even touching on the unrealistic development expectations of the electrical power infrastructure needed to charge his childish wishdream.
The German establishment has been caught off-guard by the sudden emergence in force of major agrarian discontent as thousands of farmers took to the streets of Berlin and other regional centres Monday morning to protest the abolition of diesel fuel subsidies by the country’s green-left government.
Hundreds of tractors were seen simultaneously in the cities of Berlin, Leipzig, and Chemnitz as farmers rallied against government plans to abolish subsidies on agricultural diesel and introduce new taxes for their vehicles with farmers’ groups proclaiming the matter a clear red-line issue for their industry.
Even before it started, it was evident that the COP28 jamboree to “save the planet” would not satisfy the high expectations, some of them contradictory, of the 198 nations and dozens of non-governmental organizations attending the event with different agendas, including some hidden ones.
It is, therefore no surprise that some participants pronounced the event “a big failure” even before the conference president, the UAE’s Sheikh Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber, struck the final gavel.
The next move was to blame “the Arabs” and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) as a whole.
At COP-28 in Dubai this week, weary international delegates and environmental activists celebrated a “historic breakthrough” in negotiations to stop global warming. For the first time in 32 years of negotiations, an agreement mentions “transitioning away from fossil fuels.”
“Officials from around the globe suggested the deal is an important step towards ending the use of fossil fuels,” Aljazeera reported. Other news outlets called it a landmark and historic development. America’s climate envoy, John Kerry, said the words send “very strong messages to the world.”
He’s correct, but not for the reason he meant. The message is that expectations for these annual conferences are so low that even the most inescapable aspiration is reason to cheer.
Automakers are set to get a jolt Tuesday when Ottawa unveils its promised electric vehicle regulations.
CBC News has learned that Ottawa will release final regulations it says will ensure that all new passenger cars sold in Canada by 2035 are zero-emission vehicles, a senior government source said.
The source — who was not authorized to speak publicly — said the new regulations are meant to ensure that automakers produce enough affordable zero-emissions vehicles to meet the demand.
Also … Canadian Auto Dealers Association Demands More EV Charging Stations, Improved Affordability
Who willingly pays twice as much to get 50 percent less?
When Sergio Marchionne was running Fiat, he advised people to not buy the electric version of the 500, Fiat’s “Italian Job” micro-car. Why? Because each “sale” would cost Fiat a lot of money as the electric 500 could not be sold for what it cost to build, plus a profit margin sufficient to make it worth building. It was too expensive — and too limited. It was for these reasons what people in the car industry call a loss leader — usually also a compliance car. The latter refers to a car that’s built solely to satisfy government regulatory requirements and is inevitably sold at a loss — because very few buyers want to pay for it.
A Conservative MP is accusing the federal government of failing to include job guarantees for Canadians in its subsidy contracts with foreign electric vehicle battery manufacturers.
Tory MP Rick Perkins told the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates (OGGO) on Dec. 14 that he has read a confidential Volkswagen contract and “what’s not in it is a clause that protects Canadian jobs.”
It feels like at COP28 the delusions of Western greens finally crashed against the shores of reality. The luxuriant doom-mongering of privileged eco-warriors who insist the world will end if we don’t phase out fossil fuels was confronted by a truth no reasonable person can deny: that fossil fuels remain vital to human life. In the gleaming oasis of Dubai it became clear that oil, gas and even coal are not going away anytime soon, however much the Gretas of the West might want them to. Why? Because – brace yourselves – India, China, Brazil and other nations are not prepared to sacrifice their economic health at the altar of our deranged anti-modernism.
Trillions have been spent on renewables yet they still provide less than 10% of global energy
COP28, the 28th “Conference of the Parties to the Framework Convention on Climate Change,” which just concluded in Dubai, had as one of its central themes the need to promote the energy transition by spending more on renewable energy. But what have been the results of such spending up to now?
Travelers should also be ready for ‘virtual vacations’ and ‘armchair travel’ to become mainstream, a report says.
Travelers should expect to add another item to their packing lists by 2040 — carbon passports. That’s the latest from a growing push by environmental activists for the idea of limiting a person’s ability to travel in an effort to combat climate change.
The Prime Minister told The Canadian Press that the Conservatives have unfairly but successfully scapegoated carbon pricing for why everything costs so much. But Justin Trudeau is better to look in the mirror as he examines Pierre Poilievre’s persuasiveness.
Why is the Conservative Leader’s “Axe the Tax” mantra so potent? First, because people stretched by mortgage payments and grocery costs are looking for clear and simple solutions – even though Mr. Poilievre’s answer might be far from complete.
Canada’s environment minister hailed a “monumental” deal on Wednesday to close out COP28, the first time the United Nations climate summit of nearly 200 countries agreed to transition away from fossil fuels.
The agreement approved in Dubai was welcomed by some observers as a historic turning point in global climate negotiations and stronger than a draft floated earlier in the week.
But many warned of what they saw as loopholes and distractions included in the agreement that could undermine the action needed to meet the global commitment to keep temperature rise to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial times.
Guilebeault acts like a deranged Skipper barking out orders while oblivious to his sinking ship.
OTTAWA — Canada spent $140,000 to send federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault and his entourage to a two-day Chinese government international policy convention in Beijing this past August.
So, a deal has been reached. The world has agreed on what Cop 28 president Sultan al-Jaber has called a ‘robust action to keep 1.5 Celsius in reach’. The world is to ‘transition away’ from fossil fuels.
And meanwhile, back in the real world?
