https://www.theepochtimes.com/world/ottawa-wont-scrap-ev-mandate-wants-increased-imports-domestic-production-industry-minister-5911948
“As Ottawa embarks on a 60-day review of its electric vehicle (EV) mandate, Industry Minister Mélanie Joly says the plan is not to get rid of the policy but rather to boost the production and importation of the vehicles.

“We want to build more EVs in Canada. We need to because we know that’s where basically the world is heading, and we want to make sure that we are able to compete with also Chinese EVs,” Joly said during a press conference in Montreal on Sept. 8.

Joly’s comments come after Prime Minister Mark Carney announced on Sept. 5 that the implementation of the federal EV mandate would not start with 2026 model year vehicles as initially planned. He also announced an immediate 60-day review of the program.

Carney said the policy will be delayed as automakers are already facing financial pressures due to U.S. tariffs.
In her comments on Sept.8, Joly also mentioned the concerns from automakers.

“Not only they’re paying tariffs, but they would have also to pay EV mandates, and that’s a real issue,” she said.

The Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers’ Association, which represents the Canadian operations of Ford, GM, and Stellantis, welcomed the pause to the mandate last week while also calling for its full repeal. The association has said the mandate imposes “unsustainable costs” on automakers and puts jobs and investment at risk.

The Conservative Opposition has also called Ottawa to scrap the mandate, pledging in August to launch a “nationwide campaign” against it.
Tories say Canadians should have the freedom to choose what they drive, and that EVs are not always suitable for Canada’s cold climate and remote rural areas.

Joly dismissed the possibility of getting rid of the EV mandate entirely, however, saying her government remains committed to reaching its net-zero targets. The federal government estimates the transportation sector is responsible for around half of the country’s total greenhouse gas emissions.

“Rather than scrapping the entire EV mandate, rather than like the Conservatives wants us to do, which is to let go all our objectives to counter impacts of climate change, we need to make sure we’re doing both,” she said, in reference to the two objectives of increasing domestic production and importation.

“We’re taking two months to study what we can do to build more EVs in Canada, to also import from the EU or from South Korea or Japan EVs here in Canada, to get back to that 20 percent [EV sales target] and to make sure we’re competitive,” she said.

The mandate had required car manufacturers and importers to have 20 percent of their sales in EVs starting in 2026, with the target reaching 60 percent in 2030, and 100 percent in 2035.

Joly said that Canada was “nearly there” last year with the sales target reaching “19 percent.”
The federal subsidy of up to $5,000 for the purchase of an EV ended in January as the program ran out of money, and Joly said this had an impact on sales.

“The percentage of electric vehicles being sold in Canada right now is at around 8 percent and every time automakers are not able to meet the target of 20 percent they have to pay,” she said in reference to the penalties administered through a credit system.

Statistics Canada says that the percentage of cars sold in 2024 that were EVs was one in seven, or 14 percent, differing from the 19 percent figure cited by Joly.
The share of total sales for EVs was 9 percent in the first quarter of 2025, with StatCan attributing the drop to economic uncertainty related to U.S. tariffs, backlash against Elon Musk’s Tesla, and the end of the federal subsidies.

Along with a drop in EV sales, there is little support among Canadians for eliminating the sale of new gas powered vehicles, according to polls.

A recent poll by Léger found that 71 percent of respondents say the ban of new gas cars by 2035 is “unrealistic” and that the EV mandates should be scrapped.