Photo Courtesy Canadian Press

By Tanner Smith with files from Canadian Press

Auto Manufacture mandate

Alberta Premier responds to fed zero-emission mandates

Dec 19, 2023 | 12:18 PM

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has released a response to the federal government’s zero-emissions vehicle mandate:

“Alberta’s government supports reducing emissions from the transportation sector and supporting Albertans who wish to drive lower-emissions vehicles. However, these efforts must be led by and support consumers and businesses, and the federal government has no legal or moral authority to tell Albertans what vehicles they can and cannot buy.

“Alberta has already purchased and is working with municipalities and industry to explore the use of hydrogen-powered vehicles in our provincial transportation fleet and evaluating options to increase hydrogen fuelling stations across Alberta. We’re funding pilots that are testing long-range hydrogen trucks for industry and buses in major cities. We’re working with the same partners to improve access to EV charging stations. The federal government should rein back its failed command economy tactics and work with us on a consumer-based market approach that is achievable and doesn’t hurt people.

“And yet, in another show of total disregard for the well-being of Canadians, the federal government has unilaterally imposed an unconstitutional edict with a bizarrely impossible timeline that will result in massive increases in the cost of vehicles and utility bills, vehicle rationing and wait lists, increased costs to businesses and elevated difficulty and safety risk for hundreds of thousands of Albertans and Canadians just trying to get to work and family activities in our unpredictable, and often cold, climate.

“The sheer hypocrisy of this announcement is astounding. To date, the federal government’s EV approach has been a disaster. The independent federal commissioner of the environment and sustainable development found Ottawa is failing to meet its current target of making 80 per cent of the federal government’s fleet vehicles net zero by 2030. The federal commissioner found that if progress continues at the current rate, the federal government will reach only one per cent of its target by 2030. Not only are there not enough electric vehicle chargers, Ottawa doesn’t even know where EV chargers are needed. The federal government will fail to hit its target even where it has complete discretion, and yet it plans to mandate similar targets on consumers throughout all of Canada.

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“Although it seems rather obvious to say, emissions targets and regulations must be realistic, achievable, and cannot result in multiple severe harms to millions of Canadians. A federal government that can’t transition its own fleet to EVs should not be telling Albertans and Canadians to do what even it is unable to do.

“It’s also deeply concerning that Ottawa is trying to force increased demands on the electricity grid while simultaneously weakening Alberta’s and other provinces’ grids through their federal electricity regulations. Our electric grids are not equipped to handle the massive demand surge that a forced full-scale transition to EVs would need to accommodate the delusional timelines in Ottawa’s regulations, and the federal government has not provided remotely enough financial assistance to assist provincial grids to meet this mandated electricity demand.

“Further, these new regulations will result in a shortage and rationing of traditional vehicles starting in 2026 and even earlier, as millions of consumers in need of combustion engine vehicles, especially those living in smaller municipalities that commute long distances, will be unable to power or afford an EV but also won’t be able to find an appropriate vehicle to drive in their circumstances. Apparently, the federal government doesn’t understand that freezing with their families in -30 C on the side of a rural road is not an option for Albertans.

“There is a way to encourage Canadians to drive more EVs, hydrogen-powered cars and other low-emission vehicles. Instead of telling Canadians how to spend their money and lining up for the right to purchase what they need, the federal government should focus on helping provinces develop infrastructure and advance technologies that are more suitable to Canada’s long distances and cold weather.

“Canadians deserve more than destructive virtue-signalling regulations and unachievable targets. Unfortunately, this federal government continues to show that it is all rhetoric and no substance. This approach does not serve Canadians and it won’t protect the environment.

“The Government of Alberta will do everything within its legal jurisdiction to thwart implementation of these unconstitutional regulations in our province.”

This comes after Federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault announced a plan to phase in electric vehicles through a mandate applied to auto manufacturers.

Minister Guilbeault published regulations a year ago that would require auto manufacturers to ensure at least one-fifth of the vehicles they offer for sale in 2026 are fully electric or plug-in hybrids. That will then increase to three-fifths by 2030 and then by 2035, all of the vehicles offered for sale in Canada will need to be zero-emission vehicles.

Minister Guilbeault is expected to discuss his final regulations to phase in EV today, (Tuesday, December 19) with those regulations being published later this week.