Pierre Poilievre says he'll honour Ottawa's auto agreements — but not the Liberals' EV quota rules

Hamilton Spectator

25-04-2025

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Pierre Poilievre
-led government would maintain all existing government agreements for the auto sector, the Conservative leader said Thursday.
'We will honour all agreements for the auto sector that the government has made, but we will not force Canadians to pay a $20,000 tax on automobiles,' Poilievre said at a news conference in Halifax.
'We will continue to support the battery plants, the EVs and the other commitments the government has made, because we don't believe in tearing up agreements.'
The Parliamentary Budget Officer estimated in 2024 that federal support for electric vehicle investment in Canada totalled as much as $31.4 billion, while provincial support was up to $21.1 billion.
But the '$20,000 tax' Poilievre referred to — the focus of his announcement on Thursday — is tied to former prime minister Justin Trudeau's target that zero-emission vehicles should make up
20 per cent of new car sales starting in 2026
, growing to 100 per cent by 2035.
The Conservative leader has now renamed part of the policy the 'Car(ney) tax,' in reference to Liberal Leader Mark Carney.
Poilievre has claimed that if automakers don't meet those quotas, they may be fined up to $20,000 for every vehicle they fall short of that target total — in other words, car manufacturers who sell gas-powered vehicles exceeding the 'Liberal quota' will be slapped with a '$20,000 tax' per vehicle.
'I think they're trying to say not selling enough EVs is the same as selling too many gas cars. And so they're kind of simultaneously saying not enough EVs is a $20,000 fine, and too many gas cars is a $20,000 tax,' said Joanna Kyriazis, the director of public affairs at Clean Energy Canada.
But neither of those claims are accurate, Kyriazis said.
While both B.C. and Quebec have zero-emission vehicle mandates that come with a $20,000 penalty per vehicle that misses the quota, the federal regulations are different.
'Under the federal EV availability standard, there are no monetary penalties for non-compliance,' Kyriazis said.
'The $20,000 that they're referring to is a compliance pathway where if a carmaker cannot meet its requirements in a given year based on how many EVs it makes available for sale in Canada, that carmaker can instead choose to invest in charging infrastructure to earn credits instead,' she said. 'And for every $20,000 invested in charging infrastructure, a carmaker can earn one credit. So it's not a penalty, it's a compliance flexibility.'
Poilievre's suggestion, therefore, that an automaker selling too many gas-powered cars will get hit with a $20,000 'tax' is misleading,
Kyriazis said.
She said that aside from investing in charging infrastructure for electric vehicles, manufacturers can also purchase credits from other automakers — something Poilievre has argued will benefit foreign carmakers like Tesla.
There are also grace periods, Kyriazis said, 'where if an automaker doesn't comply in a given year, they have a couple more years to make it up and earn and sell more EVs in future years.'
'There's a lot of wiggle room in any given year,' she said.
'If they can't earn enough credits in a given year using any of those compliance pathways, then they are at risk of federal prosecution.'
The Conservatives have pointed to research that indicates that the mandate will lead to job losses in the auto sector, and on Thursday highlighted an endorsement from Brian Kingston, the head of the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers' Association, who said that 'mandating EV sales when the auto industry is under attack from U.S. tariffs is putting the puck in our own net.'
Nevertheless, Poilievre said in Halifax he had 'nothing against electric cars.'
'If you want one, buy one. Free choice. Make your own decision. I encourage you to buy one that's made in Canada.'
In their campaign platform released Tuesday, the Conservatives said they would generate $11.2 billion in revenue over four years from cancelling the mandate.
Kyriazis said her interpretation of that figure is that the Conservatives believe scrapping the policy will lead to economic growth in Canada's auto sector, generating billions in revenue and associated tax revenue for the government.
'But I just want to point to (how) Canada's auto sector started winning when the EV transition started becoming real,' Kyriazis said.
'If we are removing policies that are supportive of the EV transition, that's a bad news story for our auto sector, not a good news story.'
With files from Alex Ballingall
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