The Province of Alberta joins a growing chorus of entities opposing Canada’s heavy-handed federal mandates around electric vehicle sale.
During a panel in July, for example, GM Canada president Kristian Aquilina declared the automaker’s opposition to federal mandates requiring all vehicle sales be electric by 2035, emphasizing customer choice over enforced targets.
“For months, large automakers and global industry leaders like Ford, GM, Toyota, Honda, and Stellantis have warned this mandate will kill jobs and investment,” laments Rebecca Schulz, Minister of Environment and Protected Areas for Alberta. “The mayors of 48 towns and cities in Ontario, many of which depend on auto-manufacturing, have also called on the feds to scrap this mandate.”
Alberta is the latest to reject the mandate, which the minister described as “another failed Trudeau policy.”
The minister recalled a decade during which “the Trudeau government ignored the wishes of Canadians and pursued unrealistic and ideological policies like this.”
Citing a recent Leger poll suggesting more than 70% of Canadians disapprove of the mandate, Schulz posits that “The federal government must face the inevitable and abandon the unrealistic, ineffective and unwanted EV mandate before it kicks in next year.”
“If the Carney government is serious about listening to Canadians and making life better, it needs to scrap this mandate immediately,” the minister stated. “Ottawa needs to listen to Albertans, Canadians, and industry experts across the country and scrap the ridiculous EV mandate before it drives Canada off the road.”
Requiring even 20% of new cars sold in Canada to be zero-emission in 2026, let alone 100% by 2035, is simply “not realistic or possible,” according to Schulz.
“In the last year alone, Albertans purchased over 223,000 new vehicles, all while fewer than 25,000 EVs were produced in Canada that same year,” the minister noted, pointing out how “Albertans could purchase every single EV produced in this country and we still would not be close to meeting this unrealistic plan.”