PM Carney’s government pausing EV sales mandate for review

Prime Minister Mark Carney says Ottawa won’t be forcing automakers to reach minimum sales levels of electric vehicles after an announcement in Mississauga Friday.

Some industry leaders are applauding the decision, while others say it undermines smart, low-cost climate policy in a critical sector.

Carney also announced a suite of measures aimed to help sectors hit hard by U.S. tariffs.

Among them is a sharp turn away from what the previous Trudeau government put in place.

“This will provide immediate financial relief to auto makers at a time of increased pressure on their competitiveness,” said Carney.

Carney’s government is pausing a mandate that would have required 20 per cent of all new vehicles sold in Canada next year to be electric.

Carney saying this and other measures in the strategy will help workers acquire new skills, businesses retool and spur more domestic demand.

“The government will begin immediately a 60 day review of the EV standard, to identify future flexibilities and ways to reduce costs, and we will advance new options to bring more, and more affordable electric vehicles to Canadians,” said Carney.

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Some auto industry leaders are praising the move.

“Our industry has been challenged by the vehicle mandate since it was put in place in late 2023,” said David Adams, the President and CEO of Global Automakers of Canada.

“We saw it as unnecessary, given that we already had very stringent greenhouse gas emissions standards that would drive electrification. So I think we’re very pleased the government is taking time to review and assess that standard, since it became very apparent that the targets the government set were out of step with where the market was at.”

Meanwhile, others are supportive of a review of the mandate, but disagree with its pausing, noting environmental concerns.

“Reviewing the standard makes sense, but I think we would like to see the review happen before we put a pause on the compliance,” said Keith Brooks, the programs director at Environmental Defence Canada. “We have not seen any evidence that justifies pausing the standard right now — Canada is not on track to meet our emissions reductions goals, and in fact we have further distanced ourselves from meeting those goals under Prime Minister Carney when he cancelled the consumer facing carbon tax.

“There’s been discussion about other regulations like the emissions cap that they may get rid of, so we don’t know what this government’s plan is to fight climate change.”

Ontario Premier Doug Ford was asked about the move Friday, who said the move takes pressure off automakers.

“You have all the large auto manufacturers saying they’re not gonna hit that mandate — that’s their goal obviously, but if you cant hit it, you can’t hit it,” said Ford. “The government can’t dictate… the market dictates, the people dictate, not government.”

EV sales in Canada hit 18 per cent last year when the government was offering consumer rebates, but plunged to less than half that after the rebate program was scrapped last winter.

Ottawa has promised to bring back consumer rebates for EVs, but it hasn’t said when that might happen.

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