GUNTER: Pure folly for Liberals to try to force electric vehicles on Canadians
In free, democratic society, what justifies government ordering consumers to buy particular kind of car?
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The Liberals’ devotion to their EV (electric vehicle) mandate borders on the cultish. They are certain, as all True Believers are, that if only they believe passionately enough (and spend enough taxpayers’ money), they will be able to convince all Canadians to buy EVs.
Or they’ll force us to.
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Next year, the first of the Liberal government’s EV mandates takes hold. By law, 20 per cent of all new cars and light trucks sold in Canada in 2026 must be EVs. According to that mandate, if carmakers cannot convince one in five of their customers to go electric, Ottawa could order manufacturers and dealers to sell fewer internal combustion engine vehicles to achieve the 20/80 split.
For instance, there are more than 1.9 million cars and light trucks sold in this country in a good year. This year, fewer than nine per cent of that total is expected to be EVs — about 170,000 (down from 2024 by nearly 90,000).
To get to a 20 per cent share for EVs, their sales next year would have to jump to 380,000. Or Ottawa could dictate that only 1.4 million internal combustion engine cars can be sold.
I don’t expect a cap on internal combustion engine vehicles. Think of all the assembly-line workers, mechanics and salespeople who would be laid off. It would be an economic disaster.
The cause of sluggish EV sales is a combination of two factors — the end of mega-subsidies for EV purchases paid by Ottawa and the provinces, and the simple fact that most Canadians don’t want EVs.
Proof of that — the federal government, the Quebec government and B.C. all either ended or severely reduced their subsidies to EV buyers in the first quarter of this year and EV sales plummeted by 40 to 45 per cent.
Even the government itself realizes that.
According to the Canada Energy Regulator (formerly the National Energy Board) so far this year, EV sales are off at least 25 per cent. It seems that without subsidies of between $5,000 and $8,000 on average, most car buyers can’t be convinced to purchase an EV.
Despite all that, though, in June the Liberals, the Bloc and the rump formerly known as the NDP, banded together to vote down a Conservative motion calling on the government “to immediately end their ban on gas-powered vehicles.”
According to Statistics Canada, of the more than 25 million cars, vans and pickups on Canada’s roads, fewer than 400,000 are fully electric.
To meet the Liberals’ mandate for 2026, car dealers would have to sell that many next year alone.
Is it any wonder that the CEOs of all five major carmakers in Canada asked the government back in May to rescind the mandate? Nor is it any wonder that the Carney cabinet refused — with an arrogance and obstinance befitting a Trudeau cabinet.
Brian Kingston, head of the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers’ Association, in June told the online news service, Blacklock’s Reporter, that the feds should, “Scrap the mandate and let the federal government’s existing emissions regulations drive cleaner transportation.”
Those emissions targets are likely unachievable, too. Again, they have too much of the puritan or fundamentalist about them. In theory (or, at least, in the fevered minds of environmentalists), it might be possible to rely on emission caps, but that seems like an unreal dream.
Then automakers and their customers should decide what combination of power trains, fuel sources and emission dampeners they would prefer.
I cannot imagine in a free and democratic society what justifies a government ordering consumers to buy a particular kind of car.
But here’s the irony of ironies: As EV sales have been cratering, sales of gasoline-powered cars and trucks have increased nearly 10 per cent. And what kind of vehicles have been selling best? According to StatsCan it’s been “gas-powered SUVs.”
Full-sized pickups have been popular, too.
Yet the Liberals cannot face reality and give up their EV mandate.
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