Cue the victory lap. After years of insisting Canadians could be forced into electric cars, the Liberals have finally moved to repeal the EV sales mandate. On August 14, a quiet notice in the Canada Gazette started the process of scrapping the rule that would have forced one in five new vehicles sold this year to be electric — ratcheting up to 100% by 2035.

We’ve been saying it for years while the Liberals dug in: this mandate was never going to work. The targets couldn’t be met. Automakers said so. The market said so. Every Canadian purchasing a vehicle said so.

But not so fast — the devil is in the details.

The Liberals aren’t actually handing the choice back to Canadians. They’re repealing the mandate with one hand and drafting new “tailpipe emissions standards” with the other — a rule that would slash allowable emissions from 172 grams per mile to just 74.

Let’s get the facts straight here. The Liberals are not scrapping the toxic EV mandate, they’re simply renaming it.

And here’s the kicker: these new standards aren’t even finalized yet. The government said it’s only set to begin consultations on the new tailpipe standards in the fall.

Canadians don’t need to be forced. Give them affordable vehicles, real choices, and honest prices, and they’ll decide for themselves.

The mandate may be on its way out. But until Ottawa drops the back-door version too, this fight is far from over.