Last Friday, the federal government announced the suspension of incentives for the purchase of an electric vehicle. That program offered buyers an incentive of up to $5,000.

　　At first, the news concerned the end of the program by March 31, 2025. Subsequently, there was talk of a pause on the program.

　　Yesterday, Monday, January 13th, cam another sharp turn as authorities announced the definitive end of the program... immediately.

　　As so the iZEV EV incentives program came to a car crash of an ending.

　　It was already known the programs days were numbered. An dollar amount had been allocated for the program at the outset, and it was understood that when that amount ran out, the program would be shut down. Analysts generally agreed that the spring of 2025 would see the program die.

　　But thats not now - thats in three months. And partly in anticipation of that deadline, and because manufacturers must meet certain government demands for electric vehicle sales, dealerships have stocked up and now have inventories of electric vehicles.

　　In Quebec, the situation is even worse, because provincial discounts are also being reduced, and in anticipation of that, some dealerships filled their lots with models to meet demand before the reductions came into effect. In the meantime, a pause of the provincial program has also been announced, taking effect at the end of January.

　　There have been lot of sudden and rapid decisions, thus, and many seem improvised. The problem for carmakers and dealers is obvious - they planned in anticipation of government regulations staying in place the allotted time. Instead, the goalposts have been moved on them.

　　There is strong dissatisfaction among manufacturers and dealers. Today, the Canadian Automobile Dealers Association (CADA), Global Automakers of Canada (GAC) and the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers Association (CVMA) issued a joint statement.

　　Today on Parliament Hill, Canadas vehicle manufacturers and auto dealers formally called for the end of the federal electric vehicle sales mandates brought in by the government in 2023. The call to end the mandates comes in the wake of the federal government ending electric vehicle incentives under the federal iZEV program yesterday, and a failure to build adequate public charging infrastructure in Canada.

　　- Joint statement by CADA, GAC and CVMA

　　The signatories to the declaration are:

　　- Tim Reuss, President and CEO of the Canadian Automobile Dealers Association.

　　- David Adams, President and CEO, Global Automakers of Canada.

　　- Brian Kingston, President and CEO of the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers Association

　　- Charles Benard, Chief Economist, Canadian Automobile Dealers Association

　　- Huw Williams, National Spokesperson, Canadian Automobile Dealers Association.

　　Regarding mandates, here are the zero-emissions-vehicle sales targets as a percentage, by year, as stipulated by the Canadian government:

　　2026: 20 percent2027: 23 percent2028: 34 percent2029: 43 percent2030: 60 percent2031: 74 percent2032: 83 percent2033: 94 percent2034: 97 percent2035 and beyond: 100 percentHere are statements shared by the signatories to the request made to the Canadian government regarding the end of the mandates:

　　Yesterdays announcement by the federal government to halt all consumer incentives for zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) comes at the same time as a slowdown in the buildout of public charging infrastructure. As a result of these developments, the federal governments mandated ZEV sales targets are increasingly unrealistic and must end.

　　Mandating Canadians to buy ZEVs without providing them the supports needed to switch to electric is a made-in-Canada policy failure.

　　- Brian Kingston, President CEO, Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers Association.

　　The Liberal federal government has backed away from supporting the transition to electric vehicles and now we are left with a completely unrealistic plan at the federal level. There is hypocrisy in imposing ambitious ZEV mandates and penalties on consumers when the government is showing a clear lack of motivation and support for their own policy goals.

　　- Tim Reuss, President CEO, Canadian Automobile Dealers Association.

　　While incentives are not required forever, they do need to remain in place until at least price parity has largely been achieved, otherwise the largest barrier to EV adoption - price, will continue to hinder widespread adoption and put the governments ZEV mandate targets increasingly at risk.

　　If the government is going to mandate manufacturers to put ZEVs into the marketplace and pay severe penalties for not doing so, then government needs to ensure that it is doing its part to address key barriers to EV uptake - price and infrastructure. If they are not prepared to do that then the federal government (and Quebec and BC) must consider revising or eliminating their mandates as the fundamental assumptions and EV adoption rates on which the mandates were based, has changed.

　　- David Adams, President CEO, Global Automakers of Canada.