Transport Minister Chrystia Freeland has frozen $43 million in electric vehicle rebates claimed by Tesla and ordered a full investigation into a last-minute surge in filings by the U.S.-based automaker.
Freeland was sworn in as transport minister shortly before Parliament was dissolved on Sunday and is currently campaigning as a candidate in University–Rosedale Toronto. (She remains minister until the new cabinet is selected.)
Early this month, a Toronto Star investigation revealed that Tesla dealerships claimed over 8,600 EV sales and more than $43 million in federal rebates during the final 72 hours of the electric vehicle incentive program in January — more than half of the program’s remaining budget.
“As soon as I became Transport Minister, I asked the department to stop all payments for Tesla vehicles in order to fully examine each claim individually and determine whether all are eligible and valid,” Freeland said in a statement in response to Canada’s National Observer.
“No payments will be made until we are confident that the claims are valid.”
Tesla has not publicly responded to the allegations. Freeland, however, says even if those claims — which far exceed any normal sales activity — turn out to be legitimate, Tesla will be disqualified from future federal EV rebate programs pending a change of tune from the U.S.
“I also directed my department to change the eligibility criteria for future iZEV programs to ensure that Tesla vehicles will not be eligible for incentive programs so long as the illegitimate and illegal U.S. tariffs are imposed against Canada,” Freeland said.
Tesla is also being squeezed out of EV incentive programs in cities and provinces, including Toronto, Manitoba, British Columbia, and Nova Scotia, making it harder for new buyers to access rebates.
Public perception of Tesla CEO Elon Musk is rapidly cratering as a growing number of Canadians express outrage over his close political ties to U.S. President Donald Trump and his own political views and actions. In November, polling found fewer than one in five Canadians said they trust Musk’s opinions on Canadian politics. That anger deepened after Trump suggested Canada should become the “51st state” and threatened sweeping tariffs on Canadian goods — while Musk himself egged the president on, saying Canada is “not a real country.”
Across Canada, Tesla owners are finding themselves caught in the protest’s crossfire. In recent weeks, Tesla dealerships in Hamilton, Montreal, and Calgary have been vandalized. Calgary police are investigating two separate arson attacks on Tesla vehicles — both set on fire using accelerants. In Hamilton, as many as 80 Teslas were damaged in what officials are calling one of the largest car vandalism incidents in Canadian history. A Cybertruck owner in Victoria, B.C. complained to the Victoria News that he was seeing “at least three or four people giving me the middle finger every day."
At the same time, a coordinated protest movement is gaining momentum. Demonstrations have cropped up in cities including Vancouver, Ottawa, and most recently, Kitchener.
The number of used Teslas listed on AutoTrader jumped 26.1 per cent last week compared to the same week last year, while the number of all other EVs declined by 3.1 per cent.
Critics of Musk and his company predict a mass movement of Tesla sales will drive down the cars’ cost and, therefore, the company’s stock price, reducing Musk’s wealth and thus, his ability to involve himself in politics. Even before taking an active role in the administration, Musk spent hundreds of millions of dollars to help Trump get elected.
Abdul Matin Sarfraz / Canada’s National Observer / Local Journalism Initiative.
Comments
Excellent move, as these sales figures do look fishy.
Thankfully Freeland took this stand. A question that arises from this slimy behaviour by Tesla is what and who else have scammed? How many susidies etc. have they been given already by governments trying to improve the environment? Apparently they are subsidized to the hilt in the U.S. but still feel the need to scam our government.
As soon as I heard the news about the huge demand surge for Tesla incentives, I suspected a fraud. I can easily imagine that Tesla "sold" its cars to phantom buyers, presumably its own employees, who would benefit from the incentive and then resell the vehicles as "new" to bona fide buyers at full price.
Smells fishy to me and now I find out that Musk is using money from China funneled via the Caymans to fund Space X. Like the Orange Sphincter, Nazi Musk can't be trusted. Good move to freeze and exclude Tesla from all future EV incentives.
Interesting comment about China funneling money to the Caymans. Do you have a link to share?
Carbon Brief just reported that China's BYD has now surpassed Tesla as the world's top EV maker.
And Canada still has a 100% tariff against Chinese EVs even though every car model in the world (not to mention electronics) has Chinese parts or is made in China and rebranded (e.g. Volvo).