FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 5, 2025

Carney Punts EV Mandates By A Year – Not Good Enough According to Canadians for Affordable Energy 

Toronto, Ontario – Prime Minister Mark Carney today announced a one-year delay in the implementation of the Electric Vehicle Mandates for automakers, “giving the auto sector flexibility by waiving 2026 model year vehicles from Electric Vehicle Availability Standard requirements.” This means automakers have another year to begin hitting minimum sales targets for electric vehicles.

According to Canadians for Affordable Energy (CAE) President Dan McTeague, “We’ve been saying all along that these EV mandates are unachievable and doomed to fail.” He adds, “Canada simply doesn’t have the grid capacity to accommodate a wholesale shift from internal combustion engines, and our climate and geography isn’t conducive to the widespread adoption of battery powered vehicles. Even more fundamentally, it is outrageous for the government to force Canadians to buy a product they simply don’t want. This is exactly what these mandates are designed to do.”

Sales of electric vehicles have plummeted across the country with many battery, automotive and auto parts plants have been shuttering their doors or moving south. The wider market for EVs has collapsed since President Trump ended the EV mandates in the US. “In this environment, Ottawa and provinces like Ontario need to swiftly end the costly experiment that now threatens the very viability of a Canadian auto industry,” McTeague states. 

McTeague notes that a delay merely fuels uncertainty for car dealers and consumers alike, while sending mixed messages to manufacturers and the parts companies who serve them. “Ether the EV mandate is bad policy or not,” according to McTeague, “and we think it is bad policy.”

McTeague urges Prime Minister Carney to scrap the EV Mandates altogether. “Punting this policy won’t make it better. The only acceptable path forward is to scrap the Electric Vehicle Mandates and focus on issues that will make Canadian life more affordable.”

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For media inquiries, please contact Dan McTeague at president@affordableenergy.ca