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OTTAWA — Plans by the Trudeau Liberals to ban gas and diesel-powered vehicles by 2035 are driving Canadians around the bend, new poll numbers suggest.
A new Leger poll this week, commissioned by the Canadian Taxpayers Association, show only around 30% of respondents supporting the ban, which was formally announced last year by the government.
“The results of the poll are clear: Canadians don’t want the government to ban new gas and diesel vehicles,” said the CTF’s Federal Director Franco Terrazzano.
“Canadians want the option to buy new gas-powered minivans and diesel work trucks and taxpayers know this ban will cost us a fortune.”
Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault announced Canada’s new Electric Vehicle Availability Standard initiative last December, which calls for 100% of vehicle sales in Canada to be zero-emission electric by 2035 — with interim targets of 20% of all sales by 2026, and at least 60% by 2030.
The new regulations would not apply to hybrid vehicles.
Disregarding respondents who didn’t have an opinion, 67% of those polled disagreed with the move, with 45% of those saying they strongly disagree with the policy.
Of the 33% who agreed with the ban on internal combustion engines, only 13% said they strongly agree, while 20% said they only somewhat agree with the move.
The poll was conducted between Sept. 20 and 22 of 1,612 Canadians over the age of 18, via Leger’s online panel.
As online panels aren’t subject to margins of error, an equivalent of that sample size would be no greater than ±2.4%, 19 times out of 20.
In Canada, electric cars command a small share of new vehicle sales — amounting to around 1% of sales in 2017, increasing to just over 9% in the fourth quarter of 2022.
As Canada deals with aging and increasingly vulnerable electrical infrastructure, experts doubt Canada’s generation and distribution capacity can handle such an ambitious goal.
A report published earlier this year by the Fraser Institute suggested increased uptake in electric vehicles is putting a strain on Canada’s electrical system, with 11,000 megawatts in new production needed by 2035 to meet the government’s goal.
That’s the equivalent to building thirteen new average-sized gas-fuelled power plants, or constructing 10 new dams equivalent to B.C.’s controversial Site C dam project — which took a decade to design, will take a decade to complete, and has so far cost upwards of $16 billion.
As well, a report released over the summer by Natural Resources Canada says Canada’s shift to all-electric vehicles would require $300 billion in power grid updates by 2040.
“This may be one of Trudeau’s costliest and worst thought out policies,” Terrazzano told the Toronto Sun.
“And that’s saying a lot. “
In a statement, the office of Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault said that it’s incorrect to say Canada is banning gas and diesel vehicles, and said that any poll conducted under such premise is misleading.
“Canada’s Electric vehicle availability standard encourages the production of more hybrid vehicles that run on gas. This takes into account the vast geography of Canada,” the statement read.
“When you consider the pace of new models of hybrid vehicles coming out every year, by 2035, Canadians will have a huge range of options.”
The statement also pointed out that the new regulations only apply to light-duty vehicles only, and that heavier-duty vehicles and trucks would not be subject to them.
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