The federal government recently unveiled major changes to its national automotive strategy.
Shortly thereafter, the Province of Alberta responded to the shift in strategy from Mark Carney.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith stated that the old policy, which expected 100% of vehicles sold in Canada to be zero-emission by 2035, “was always unrealistic.”
Alberta purchased more than 222,000 cars last year, for example, yet fewer than 20,000 of those were EVs.
In fact, Smith notes, “Alberta alone could have purchased every single EV produced in this country and we still would not have been close to meeting the federal mandate.”
Smith says there simply aren’t enough cars, not enough demand, and not enough charging stations.
As for the new strategy, Smith is executing a primarily wait-and-see response for now.
“While we are pleased the federal EV mandate has been scrapped, we will be closely monitoring the effect of the new emissions standards,” the Premier stated.
If the federal government wants to promote EV sales, Smith says, “it must provide incentives, not unrealistic mandates,” which is something Carney is currently attempting to pull off.
As Ottawa develops a new automotive strategy, “we hope they will work closely with provinces and consumers to make choice and affordability paramount and keep this policy pointed in the right direction,” remarked Smith.
Her response aligns with comments from August of last year, which then dismissed the now-axed EV mandates as “another failed Trudeau policy.”
In September, the federal agreement would come to formally agree with Smith by announcing Trudeau’s policies would be replaced with something more viable.
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