Prime Minister Mark Carney’s promise to restore sanity to Canada’s government after the worst administration in parliamentary history (challenge me if you like, but I can make a good case) has hit a snag. Our newly elected prime minister was all about getting Canadians back to work and returning federal policy to no-nonsense, thrifty practices. Well, what are the continuing EV mandates all about? Kris Sims from the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) researched the implications of the Liberal government’s decision to double down on its commitment to green energy. Sims had a heyday pointing out the sublime to the ridiculous about the mandate and then appeared on Brian Lilley’s Unleashed YouTube program to further eviscerate a troubling policy that has new life under Carney’s leadership.
Starting next year, at least 20 per cent of new sales must be electric vehicles. Car companies and dealerships failing to meet those numbers will be fined. How many Canadians are aware of this legal obligation facing automakers? While largely overlooked throughout the campaign, Trudeau’s EV mandate remains in effect. Beyond the 2026 mandates, by 2035, the sale of new gasoline-powered cars will become illegal. The restrictions kick in at the start of next year. To be clear, this refers to completely emission-free vehicles, not hybrids. Beginning in 2030, the sales must rise to 60 per cent and 100 per cent by 2035. Elbows up, indeed.
To emphasize her argument, Sims highlighted three disparaged issues associated with missing government targets. Many electric vehicle makers initially accepted government funding for next-generation autos, but disappointing sales figures are now causing them to withdraw. Secondly, the production of electricity needed for these cars to come online falls far short of the amount required in Ontario, never mind Canada. Finally, if the official policy of the Liberal Party of Canada demands the government stay out of the bedrooms of the nation, why does it think it should be in our garages? People should buy green cars if they want to, but what right does the government have to dictate our choice of engine?
Quebec, as Lilley pointed out, serves as a specific example of the boondoggle this project has become. About half of the electric vehicles in Canada run in la belle province. When the government put the rebate program on pause, meaning the end of thousands of dollars of savings, sales tanked. Most people are not interested in buying EVs unless they get a subsidy of some sort. Beyond this, having EVs in downtown corridors of Toronto or Montreal makes sense, even the big delivery trucks that FedEx or Purolator use, but what if you live in towns and small communities across our West? Electric vehicles don’t make sense, and they don’t accommodate people in these rural settings, especially in the middle of winter. If the weather suits and you want a battery-powered car, consider buying one. Otherwise, the evidence increasingly suggests that cold climates, prevalent in much of Canada, are a problem for this technology.
Edmonton’s buses prove the point. After being promised 328 km per charge and 268 km in the winter, the city is now suing Proterra, a bankrupt producer of battery-powered buses in the United States. The buses never matched the numbers pledged, never exceeding 250 km in warm weather and never beyond 165 km in the winter. “Beyond the batteries, the city claims the buses — despite being delivered between 2019 and 2021 — have experienced a number of other problems, including gearbox and steering box failures, issues with stanchions and bell pulls, and cracks in the composite body structure.” (Keith Gerein: Edmonton faces questions of calculated risk following $82-million electric bus failure, Edmonton Journal, Feb 12, 2024). Gerein continued by saying that, “As a result of the hardware issues, more than half of the buses are regularly out of service. At most, the city has 28 of the 60 buses on the road at any given time.” That sounds like a problem, not a solution. There is more. The city even spent $30,000 on blankets to keep the engines warm, unfortunately, to no avail.
Finally, as Sims and Lilley discussed, the power grid presents an enormous obstacle. Even if everyone became an “environmental soldier” and bought an EV, there wouldn’t be enough power to charge them all. Sims pointed out that a less expensive EV, for example, a Nissan Leaf, remains $15,000–$20,000 more costly than its gas counterpart. That serves as a significant deterrent to people trying to pay for the everyday costs of housing, food, clothing, and utilities. However, a complete switch to battery-powered cars in Canada would necessitate the immediate construction of 14 CANDU nuclear reactors to meet the increased electricity demand. Ontario has three sites; therefore, we would need six more at a cost of approximately $13 billion. That would total about $180 billion. That figure excludes charging stations and energy lines. According to Sims, a federal government report from Natural Resources Canada placed the cost of converting to electric vehicles at $300 billion. That is more than 50 per cent of our current annual budget. It does not sound feasible within the given period. The Conservatives have attempted to delay this, but the Liberals will have none of it. When the chickens come home to roost, the Carney government will have no one to blame but Justin Trudeau, and that sounds like a tough sell when you packaged yourself as the antidote to the Trudeau years.
Dave Redekop is a retired elementary resource teacher who worked part-time at the St. Catharines Courthouse as a Registrar until being appointed Executive Director at Redeemer Bible Church in October 2023. He has worked on political campaigns since high school and attended university in South Carolina for five years, earning a Master’s in American History with a specialization in Civil Rights. Dave loves reading biographies.
