You might think the 2025 federal election would have taught the Conservative Party of Canada a few lessons. Chief among them would be the need to break with Trumpism and avoid investing their political capital in an issue — like the carbon tax — that can be eliminated with the stroke of the prime minister’s pen. Instead, Pierre Poilievre’s party seems destined — and determined — to learn these lessons again.
Its renewed attack on the federal government’s electric vehicle mandate is a case in point here. In an email sent to supporters last month, CPC co-deputy leader Melissa Lantsman said that “the radical Liberals are planning to make your gas-powered vehicles ILLEGAL. They will FORCE you to buy an expensive electric vehicle.” This is obvious nonsense, since existing gas-powered vehicles sold up to 2035 would be allowed to operate for as long as a mechanic could keep them on the road.
And while it’s true that the up-front cost of electric vehicles is still higher than gasoline-fueled ones, that won’t be the case for long. The ongoing developments in battery technology mean that so-called “up-front price parity” — that is, an equivalent cost, without subsidies, for electric and gasoline versions of the same vehicle type — is a question of when, not if.
That may arrive far sooner than Canada’s Conservatives want to believe. Chinese automaker BYD and its ultra-low-cost EVs absolutely dominate the ever-expanding Chinese market, and it’s rapidly winning hearts and market share in places like Europe and South America. Its new generation of solid-state batteries could lead to both a major increase in range and a major decrease in price. It’s not alone in developing these new batteries, either: Nissan Canada has said that solid-state batteries can be produced “at a lower cost than conventional lithium-ion batteries,” while Toyota and Volkswagen are also betting heavily on them.
In time, then, and not that much of it, electric vehicles could enjoy an up-front cost advantage over gasoline-powered vehicles. That’s without factoring in the far lower costs of operating an EV, which can amount to thousands of dollars per vehicle per year, according to the Canadian Automobile Association. If Canada follows through with its electric vehicle mandate, it’s expected to save Canadians approximately $36.7 billion in costs by 2050.
So why are Canada’s Conservatives picking this particular hill to fight on? In part, it’s because it allows them to play their greatest hits and try to recapture some of the political energy they generated with their campaign against the consumer carbon tax. Andrew Scheer, for example, got to break out his ample supply of political tinfoil in claiming that the EV mandate — one designed and implemented by the previous prime minister — is really a sop to Brookfield, the company Carney chaired before entering politics. “Brookfield is heavily invested in the EV supply chain. If this prime minister refuses to reveal his financial interests or self-admitted conflicts — isn’t it true that this isn’t about the environment, this is about the bottom line for Brookfield?”
More importantly, they’re also doing this because Canada’s Conservative movement remains incapable of tacking against the political winds of Trumpism. As Trump has turned ever-more aggressively against electric vehicles, and particularly the ones sold by his former best friend Elon Musk, so too have leading Canadian Conservatives like party leader Pierre Poilievre and Melissa Lantsman. It seems almost inevitable now that electric vehicles will become part of the ongoing culture war there, and that any rational attempt to help the automotive industry adapt to the changing global landscape will be subsumed into Trump’s fight with Musk.
It’s reasonable, and maybe even rational, to re-assess some of the near-term targets in Canada’s EV regulation, given the threats posed by Trump to the very existence of Canada’s auto sector. But the longer-term objectives here should remain in place, and the Carney government should be willing to fight hard for them. The transition away from fossil fuels and gasoline-powered vehicles is a question of when, not if. As the New York Times reported recently, “auto executives are nearly unanimous that, even in the United States, electric and hybrid vehicles will eventually displace gasoline-powered vehicles.” Just ask Musk, who shared a post about Norway’s June car sales figures — 97 per cent of which involved EVs — and added his own commentary. “Combustion engine cars will be like the steam engine — quaint, but primitive.”
On this, at least, he’s correct. Not even Donald Trump can stop the global transition to electrification, and Canada needs to remain focused on the longer-term trajectory here, both for its domestic auto sector and the consumers who buy their products. The Conservative attack here is the very definition of a rearguard battle, one that confirms its enduring loyalty to the oil and gas industry and its economic interests. It’s also another reminder that the leadership team that blundered away a 20-point lead heading into the last election might not be fit to win the next one.
Comments
Conservatives, the answer to everything with them is drill-baby-drill. But we need to remember, oil & gas has the conservative party in their back pocket, being their largest donor. Without that support, the party would be no better off than the NDP.
Given corporate greed, corporations and directors and board members of any corporation or company should not be allowed to donate to political parties. We can see the effects of this with the conservative party as plain as day. Election laws need to change on political donations, or corporate Canada will own and run the country. Just look south of the border to see the effects when corporate America takes hold of the government.
When Albertans elected an NDP government that government's first act was a law to limit corporate donations. Unfortunately, a subsequent con government undid that act. We need to find a way to make progressive policy more difficult to reverse.
The present federal government should consider an act to limit corporate donations. But that's unlikely, given their dependence on said corporate donations. (Same as the con party.) So we need to seriously consider voting for the only Canadian party to have passes such an essential law, the aforesaid NDP.
Sorry to burst the bubble, but we have two O&G parties in Ottawa, not one.
Under the Liberals, Canada's O&G industry enjoy record profits on record production. No accident.
JA wrote: "Election laws need to change on political donations, or corporate Canada will own and run the country."
Too late. Corporate Canada already owns and runs the country. As it has for decades.
Both the Liberals and Conservatives serve corporate power. Not just Big Oil, but also the Big Banks that back them. Corporate Canada is their prime constituency.
Only the Liberals are far more effective in delivering on Corporate Canada's agenda. Selling your grandchildren down the river with a smile.
"Sunny ways, my friends, sunny ways!"
Max Fawcett: "The oil and gas sector will miss Justin Trudeau. No, really" (National Observer, January 8, 2025)
"It's worth noting that while Canada was 'closed' for oil and gas business, the industry increased its oil production by more than a million barrels per day. Its biggest companies posted record profits in 2022, and then almost did it again in 2023.
"Meanwhile, in 2024 the federal government completed the construction of the first pipeline to Pacific tidewater in decades, one that immediately (and significantly) increased oil prices received by the same companies complaining so bitterly about Trudeau's reign. LNG Canada, meanwhile, is set to begin operations in 2025, and will have a similarly beneficial impact on the price of natural gas in Canada and the companies that sell it.
"The truth here, one the oil and gas industry's advocates would never dare acknowledge, is that JUSTIN TRUDEAU HAS BEEN THE BEST PRIME MINISTER THEIR INDUSTRY HAS SEEN IN DECADES. He has done more to advance their interests, often at the cost of his own political capital, than any of his living predecessors. In addition to TMX and LNG Canada it also fought successfully for Line 3, a major expansion project that faced significant political resistance from the Democratic governor and other politicians in Michigan. Oh, and it also threw more than a billion dollars at the oil and gas industry to help it clean up its old oil and gas wells."
With enemies like the Liberals, Canada's O&G industry does not need friends.
Liberal partisans falsely portray the Libs and Cons as diametrical opposites. Good and evil.
False duality.
In reality, Trudeau/Carney and Harper/Poilievre are the Tweedledum and Tweedledee of climate disaster. Both parties serve Corporate Canada. Only the Liberals are far more effective.
When it comes to oilsands and fossil-fuel expansion, Trudeau, Carney, Harper, Scheer, O'Toole, Poilievre; Notley, Nenshi, Kenney, Smith; Horgan, and Eby are all on the same page.
The federal Liberals and petro-progressive provincial NDP are not in a tug-of-war with Conservatives over climate. They are dance partners.
The NDP and Liberals promote fossil-fuel expansion and take science-based policy off the table. This allows the "conservatives" to shift even further right, doubling down on denial and fossil fuel intransigence.
It's the Liberals and provincial NDP who shift the Overton window. It's the Liberals and provincial NDP who shut down the space for effective science-based policy.
The climate plans of the Liberals and provincial NDP are premised on fossil-fuel expansion. It's the Liberals and provincial NDP who ignore the science and undermine the climate movement. With climate leaders like these, the climate movement does not need enemies.
The new denialism. Just as delusional as the old kind but more insidious. And far more dangerous.
"The New Climate Denialism: Time for an Intervention" (The Narwhal, 2016)
Anyone who owns an electric vehicle will tell you........they are wonderful.
If you've already solarized (a jet set vacate or two not taken can easily pay for roof top solar), you can install your own level 2 charger, and be gasoline free and free as well of the fossil fool claim that it doesn't count if the electricity is still produced by fossil gas.
Everything we the people can do to embrace the new economy and wave bye bye to both tar and methane is a win for the planet. As travel to the countries Trump is abandoning and tariffing becomes unaffordable for most........not to mention more subject to local conflict and extreme weather.........investing in solar and an EV car is the Canadian patriots alternative. With the extra cash solar and EV's leave in your pocket, you might even be able to afford a few day trips and meals out at good restaurants..........further supporting your own local economy.
Heat pumps are great as well.......we're going to try cooling and heating our home with the one slated for July installation.
Conservatives are fighting a rear guard action.........if they win it will be a pyrrhic victory for all of us: That's the kind of victory the Zionists are going for in Israel. The ones where winners and losers are equally destitute.
see also, https://www.forbes.com/sites/sap/2018/09/06/seven-reasons-why-the-inter…
Great article. THX!
I am fully supportive of these initiatives, but in our case we don't drive enough to justify any new car, let along an EV. We have one rapid transit line within a 15-minute walk of our Vancouver home with a second one nearing completion. We are also within a 10 minute walk of shops that provide nearly all our necessities. Unfortunately, my spouse and I are in disagreement about rooftop solar, but a heat pump is not out of the question in a few years.
We will see where Carney takes us, but there is currently discussion among the federal Libs and BC government to bring back or renew both EV grants. BC is already well on its way to bringing tremendous amounts of renewable power into the provincial grid, mainly with First Nations wind and solar projects.
Optimism is not hard to find in BC.
Fawcett: "You might think the 2025 federal election would have taught the Conservative Party of Canada a few lessons. Chief among them would be the need to break with Trumpism and avoid investing their political capital in an issue — like the carbon tax — that can be eliminated with the stroke of the prime minister’s pen."
Actually, the Conservatives' deceptive campaign against the carbon levy (not a tax) plus rebate was a massive success.
So much so that even the NDP abandoned its support for carbon pricing. Poilievre & Co. have made carbon pricing politically toxic for a generation, at least. Removing an essential tool from the climate action toolbox. The Conservatives can take all the credit for removing this mythical financial burden from Canadians' backs.
Once that goal was accomplished, and after Trudeau stepped down, the Conservatives' failure, or inability, to pivot to address Trump's threats is what did them in. That, and their leader's repellent personality, and the whole squad's Trumpiness.
Fawcett: "It seems almost inevitable now that electric vehicles will become part of the ongoing culture war there …"
That train left the station some time ago. Same with bike lanes. 15-minute cities. Alleged "war on cars".
Come to think of it, Conservatives have never supported EVs, or other sustainable modes of transportation. It's the private automobile all the way — the bigger, the better — and fill 'er up with patriotic Canadian ethical, responsibly produced gasoline.
For their part, the governing Liberals seem less interested in investing in sustainable public transit than in protecting Canada's auto industry. Regardless of the bright future for EVs, the Liberals' huge subsidies for EV battery plants and parts seem to be a bust.
The Liberals seem more interested in winning votes with EV subsidies to affluent households that do not need them than in shifting Canadians out of cars and onto buses, trains, and bikes.
When it comes to transportation and climate, climate-concerned citizens should be less concerned about the Conservatives' dubious political tactics than the Liberals' failed policies. It's the Liberals who are in government. It's the Liberals who set the agenda.
The Liberals plan to fail.
Yep. And then the Conservatives will have the helm for a decade and ruin everything, not just climate policy.
Not a reason to excuse decades of climate failure under Liberal governments. Certainly not a reason to vote for it.
If you want your grandchildren to have a climate-safe future in a liveable world, you need to come up with a better strategy.
Some may believe that excusing, apologizing for, obfuscating, and voting for climate failure under a Liberal banner is virtuous. Their grandchildren will beg to differ.
To add a bit more optimism to this thread, electric heavy and long haul trucks are now a reality in Europe. The majority of Euro big rigs are still diesel, but the writing is on the wall as E trucks save tens of thousands of euros per truck per year, have fantastic hill climbing and regeneration ability and are pushing the envelope for a full build out of new fast charging networks and improving the design and service levels of the existing charging parks. German truckers must follow strict break and rest schedules, and the E charging networks are responding with stations placed along rest areas on the Autobahn.
The Electric Trucker participated in an E truck convoy that travelled from southern Bavaria up through Denmark and into Sweden. They had no outsized problems there and back, a trip of about 1,500 km for a truck fleet that din't burn one ounce of diesel. In Sweden they encountered electric construction vehicles and the most advanced charging stations in Northern Europe.
Electrifying transport in Canada is the least we can do, and that should start with the trucking industry and rail which provide essential services.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODd4wpl946k
I should add that the E Trucker site reiterates regularly how many of their EU clients specifically call for a company with E trucks. The mere presence of E trucks on the roads has caused an expansion of hauling freight with clean power just because it's the right thing to do.
Right of center parties in North America generally follow the same playbook. Their elites are in the same echo chamber of Fox News and right wing talk radio. I bet that Moe and Smith are going to ban EVs. If only the Buggy Whip manufactures were more politically forceful they could have stopped the introduction of the automobile.
LOL! Good one
These Cons (old Reformers) think that Opposition is obstruction, obstruction on everything within their sights never thinking that they may be making a mistake. When I think of them I think each and every one of them have 2 deep creases between their eyes and they have a blow horn in their mouths holding it in the air so everyone, anyone, can hear them yelling. And they are mad and they aren't going to take it anymore. Take what is the question. A case in Alberta just changed back to what it was before they trounced on it to get rid of it. Fluoride. Some of their children or grandchildren or friends or friends kids must have presented with enamel problems because all of a sudden they admit they were wrong (give them a sticker) and the fluoride is going back into the drinking water. I question their judgment on everything, especially when it comes to the betterment of Mother Earth, Canadian lives and our Country. Because they are in the back pocket of O&G they just cannot be trusted. Some say the Liberals are the same and I say no they are not. They've come up with climate change policies that actually were scientifically proven to work but alas these o&g Cons don't believe the scientists, they believe their gut feelings.
Shocking that these o&g Cons don't think they can achieve anything without Poilievre as their Dear Leader, even though he lost his 27 point lead (ahem so says pollsters) and his riding he held for 20 years. No one needs scientists for those results yet they insist their gut feelings are the right way to go. There's a story about Lemmings that's is/or not scientific. So be it.