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OTTAWA — Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said the Liberal government’s electric vehicle sales mandate is akin to “banning rural life” as he promised a nationwide pressure campaign to scrap the policy.
Poilievre took a pause from his Albertan byelection campaign Thursday for a press event in Saskatchewan in which he lambasted the Liberal policy — colloquially known as the EV mandate — as an attack on farmers and rural Canada.
He also promised to launch a media and pressure campaign against the mandate implemented by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau calling for all vehicle sales in Canada to be zero-emission by 2035.
The mandate set incremental targets beginning with an EV sales target of 20 per cent by 2026, before increasing to 30 per cent by 2030.
Poilievre went so far as saying Thursday that the mandate would “eliminate rural communities” in Canada.
“It will kill jobs, balloon costs and grind rural communities to a halt. Farmers, ranchers, resource workers would not be able to do their jobs because EVs don’t work over long distances and in cold weather. It would literally erase many small towns from the map,” he said, telling those who’d accuse him of hyperbole to go speak to farmers.
“What Mark Carney is doing by banning gas vehicles is he is banning the rural way of life,” he added. “Not only would (the mandate) eliminate rural communities, it would eliminate our auto sector.”
The Conservatives have long opposed the Liberals’ EV mandate, but Poilievre said Thursday that the party would be upping the pressure on the government through a “massive nationwide campaign”.
He said it would include pressure campaigns in Liberal ridings, press conferences at car dealerships as well as motions and petitions in Parliament come the fall.
Poilievre is currently in the midst of a byelection campaign in Alberta where he’s trying to win the traditionally Conservative seat of Battle River—Crowfoot after losing his longtime Ottawa-area riding of Carleton during the general election.
Carney’s office did not provide a statement in response to Poilievre’s press conference.
On Thursday, National Post reported on new Leger-Postmedia polling suggesting Canadians are increasingly skeptical of the EV sales mandate.
The poll found that an increasing majority of Canadians view the federal government’s goal of seeing all new vehicle sales be zero-emission by 2035 as “unrealistic” and believe the rule ought to the scrapped.
When asked which of a number of viewpoints respondents agreed with regarding the Liberal EV mandate, 71 per cent of respondents agreed with the statement that “the target is unrealistic and will cost too much. It should be rolled back,” Leger said.
Another 29 per cent said they agreed with the position, “this target is necessary and should be kept in place despite the challenges it poses.”
The EV mandate has also come under fire from major players in the auto industry. Just weeks after Carney was elected in late April, the heads of five major automakers called on him to “urgently” repeal the zero-emission vehicle sales mandate.
In a letter to Carney first reported by National Post , the CEOs of the Canadian divisions of Ford, General Motors, Honda, Stellantis and Toyota warned the mandate would inflict “serious damages” to the industry.
During his press conference Thursday, Poilievre also criticized Carney’s response to U.S. tariffs as well as new Chinese tariffs of 76 per cent on Canadian canola seed announced and implemented this week.
The Chinese tariffs were a delayed response to Canadian 100 per cent tariffs on electric vehicles made in China implemented last year.
Poilievre accused the prime minister of failing to address the Chinese tariffs on a key industry in the Prairies and of generally prostrating himself to foreign interests.
“These tariffs are unfair and unjustified, and we lament the fact that Mark Carney has been so silent and so weak, failing to stand up for our farmers against these tariffs,” he said.
Carney has not yet reacted to the latest tariff salvo from China, but Agriculture Minister Heath MacDonald rejected the accusation that Canada was dumping its canola seed into the Chinese market.
“Canada is deeply disappointed with China’s decision to implement provisional anti-dumping duties in its self-initiated investigation into imports of canola seed from Canada,” he said in a statement co-signed with International Trade Minister Maninder Sidhu.
National Post, with files from Stephanie Taylor.
cnardi@postmedia.com
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