Share this Story : Calgary Sun Copy Link Email X Reddit Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr

GREEN: Carney government relocates EV mandate to regulatory witness protection

I’d like to praise Prime Minister Carney for ending the EV mandate — but I can’t because he didn’t. Instead, he simply hid the EV mandate under a new name and buried it in pre-existing air pollution regulations...

You can save this article by registering for free here. Or sign-in if you have an account.

I’d like to wholeheartedly praise Prime Minister Mark Carney for his recent decision to kill the federal electric vehicle (EV) mandate, which required all new light-duty vehicles sold by 2035 be battery electric or plug-in hybrids.

Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.

Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account and fewer ads.

Get exclusive access to the Calgary Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on.

Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists.

Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists.

Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword.

Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.

Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account.

Get exclusive access to the Calgary Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on.

Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists.

Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists.

Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword.

Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.

Access articles from across Canada with one account.

Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments.

Enjoy additional articles per month.

Get email updates from your favourite authors.

Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.

Access articles from across Canada with one account

Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments

Enjoy additional articles per month

Get email updates from your favourite authors

Sign In or Create an Account

The mandate was always a bad idea, as were similar EV mandates adopted elsewhere, such as in California in the 1990s. Canada’s EV mandate, like California’s, tried to force battery EVs into auto markets where consumers simply didn’t want them. Even with massive, inequitable, unsustainable government subsidies, EVs struggled to make any significant headway toward meaningfully replacing internal combustion (ICE) vehicles — and then, only in the luxury small car market in mostly wealthy urban enclaves.

GREEN: Carney government relocates EV mandate to regulatory witness protection Back to video

Anyway, I’d like to praise Prime Minister Carney for ending the EV mandate — but I can’t because he didn’t. Instead, he simply hid the EV mandate under a new name and buried it in pre-existing air pollution regulations originally designed to deal with real toxic air pollutants (such as smog and soot). Those popular regulations will make a good hiding place for the EV mandate’s purpose of reducing non-toxic greenhouse gas emissions. In other words, Ottawa didn’t scrap the EV mandate, it put it into witness protection: name changed, taken out of the public eye, hidden in some innocuous business, nothing to see here.

Get the latest headlines, breaking news and columns.

There was an error, please provide a valid email address.

By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc.

A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder.

The next issue of Calgary Sun Headline News will soon be in your inbox.

We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try again

Interested in more newsletters? Browse here.

Now, instead of a visible sales quota, the government is reportedly pivoting to a tightened vehicle fleet emission standard. “Canada will set a new, more ambitious sovereign path to reduce automobile emissions,” Carney said at a news conference at an auto parts manufacturer in the Greater Toronto Area. “We’re tightening by twofold our GHG emissions standards and we’re giving the industry the flexibility how they achieve that, whether through plug-in hybrids, EVs, more efficient ICE vehicles.”

Again, that sounds different but it isn’t. Because if you tighten your vehicle fleet emission standards enough, the only vehicles to meet the standard, functionally, will be battery electrics or plug-in hybrids. If your emission standard changes over the same timeframe as your scrapped sales mandate would have, you achieve the same end: forced adoption of EVs over the same timeframe as the mandate.

We’re starting to see a trend from the Carney government. When the federal consumer carbon tax became politically radioactive, the government didn’t abandon its emissions agenda — it shifted the tax burden into industrial pricing systems. The tax bite didn’t vanish; it just moved (and actually increased) and became harder for voters to trace. Now we’re seeing the same manoeuvre with vehicles. Publicly, with ceremony, declare the unpopular mandate dead. Then bury it in the fine print of emissions regulations and hope nobody notices.

HILL: Here’s how Smith government can help end boom-and-bust cycle in Alberta

THOMPSON, HILL: Policymakers in Calgary and Edmonton may soon help push home prices upward

But consumers will notice — at the dealership. Under a stringent fleet standard, automakers will have two options: sell more EVs (at less profit) or pay penalties. Manufacturers won’t absorb that; they’ll cross-subsidize EV sales with higher prices on ICE vehicles. That means Canadians who prefer gasoline vehicles — because they travel long distances, live in cold climates, tow things or simply don’t want a $50,000 battery pack — will help finance the transition whether they like it or not.

The EV mandate is not dead. It’s safely relocated to regulatory witness protection.

Kenneth Green is a senior fellow at the Fraser Institute.

Share this Story : Calgary Sun Copy Link Email X Reddit Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr

Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion. Please keep comments relevant and respectful. Comments may take up to an hour to appear on the site. You will receive an email if there is a reply to your comment, an update to a thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information.

SUNshine Girl Shannon Sunshine Girls

SUNshine Girl Shannon

Letters, Feb. 26, 2026: 'Get these deficits under control' Letters

Letters, Feb. 26, 2026: 'Get these deficits under control'

SUNshine Girl Tara Sunshine Girls

Calgary police arrest man with 25 outstanding warrants trying to escape by climbing down balconies News

Calgary police arrest man with 25 outstanding warrants trying to escape by climbing down balconies

MARTIN: Lack of remorse from would-be terrorist raises concerning questions Columnists

MARTIN: Lack of remorse from would-be terrorist raises concerning questions

© Calgary Sun