Pressure building on Liberals to rethink electric vehicle mandate
OTTAWA — As Canada approaches a critical starting point for its electric vehicle goals, pressure is building on Prime Minister Mark Carney's government to rethink its plan.
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Starting next year, the Liberal plan to get more electric vehicles on the road will enter its first phase: mandating sales targets for car companies, which could purchase credits, including by spending on charging infrastructure, or face penalties for not complying.
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The government has set a target of 20 per cent of new passenger vehicles sold in 2026 must be either battery-powered or hybrid, which increases to 60 per cent by 2030 and reaches 100 per cent by 2035.
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The goal is to reduce the country's emissions, taking direct aim at the transportation sector, which is among the top emitters.
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But with plummeting electric car sales and Canada's auto sector under duress from a trade war with the U.S, which has abandoned its electrification goals under President Donald Trump, Carney's government must now decide whether to forge ahead or reconsider a core climate policy.
'They're going to have to make adjustments,' said Flavio Volpe, president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers' Association.
'I think they know that, the industry knows that. It's really a negotiation on where those adjustments land. Is this a time for stretch goals or is this a time for reality. What's the mix?'
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He added that he had spoken to 'several ministers' this week.
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Brian Kingston, the president and CEO of the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers' Association, which represents Ford, General Motors and Stellantis and has long opposed the sales mandate, says the policy heaps on added costs at a time when keeping production in Canada has been made more difficult by U.S. tariffs
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'At a time where companies are already facing tariff pressure, they are now going to face challenges selling vehicles in the Canadian market. Very difficult to make the case for Canada with this policy in place.'
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Ford Canada CEO Bev Goodman was among the latest to call for the mandate to be scrapped, pointing to falling customer interest.
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Statistics Canada bears that out, with the agency reporting a 45-per-cent drop in new zero-emission vehicles sold in March from the same month the year before. It said these new vehicles accounted for around seven per cent of vehicles sold in March 2025 — a figure critics point to as fuel to argue a 20 per cent sales target is unrealistic.
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