Ottawa’s electric vehicle mandate is finally in the dustbin of history, where it belongs.

After putting a pause on the Liberal government’s EV mandate late last fall, Prime Minister Mark Carney finally announced its end last week at a press conference in Vaughan, Ont., where he unveiled a new national automotive strategy.

JAY GOLDBERG: Trudeau's EV mandate meets its much-needed demise Back to video

Gone is the Trudeau-era plan to force car dealerships to sell a certain percentage of new vehicles as electric, which would have ramped up to 100% by 2035.

Incentives the way to go

Instead, Carney is bringing back rebates for consumers, replacing a mandate with incentives.

The EV mandate was bad policy from Day 1, so it’s good to see the Liberals finally recognize it needed to go. With only roughly 8% of all new vehicles sold in Canada being electric in 2025, the EV mandate — which originally was supposed to be phased in at 20% this year — was incredibly unrealistic. So, too, was the target of getting to 60% in four short years.

The mandate would have also decimated Canada’s automotive sector, encouraging even more factories to close down and move to the U.S.

After nearly a year of delaying the inevitable, Carney finally announced the electric vehicle mandate’s demise, adding to the list of terrible Trudeau-era policies, such as the consumer carbon tax, that his successor has put on the chopping block. The new national automotive strategy sets a goal of achieving 75% electric vehicle sales by 2035 and 90% by 2040, but it does not mandate those thresholds.

Ottawa says these goals will be pursued by manufacturers via “a wide array of technologies” in a way that allows them to “respond to consumer preferences.”

The fact the preferences of consumers is actually part of the new national automotive strategy is an encouraging sign.

One way the federal government hopes to boost electric vehicle sales, which dropped substantially after the old rebate program ran out of cash roughly a year ago, is through reintroducing a federal incentives program. Canadians who want to buy electric vehicles will receive $5,000 toward an electric vehicle or $2,500 toward a plug-in hybrid with a final transaction value of up to $50,000 for cars made in countries with which Canada has a free trade agreement, which excludes China.

The $50,000 cap does not apply to vehicles made in Canada. According to the prime minister, this new program will cost $2.3 billion.

While the federal government can hardly afford to dole out taxpayer cash to encourage Canadians to buy electric vehicles, when it comes to consumer choice, incentives sure beat mandates.

Consumers deserve choice

Carney’s new automotive strategy is not a perfect plan for consumers. The best strategy would have been to include no targets at all and simply allow the marketplace and innovation in the automotive sector to drive consumer behaviour.

But Carney’s approach is lightyears ahead of the approach taken by former prime minister Justin Trudeau, which would have forced Canadians into electric vehicles if they were in the market for a new car.

Canadian consumers deserve choice. The EV mandate was going to take that away from them. By walking back from the mandate cliff, Carney is doing the right thing and empowering Canadian consumers to make their own choices.

The end of the EV mandate should be celebrated — by consumers, workers and businesses.

Jay Goldberg is the Canadian Affairs Manager at the Consumer Choice Center

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