‘Total Disregard’: Alberta Premier Says Ottawa’s EV Mandate Ignores Canadians’ Well-Being

Alberta United Conservative Party Leader Danielle Smith holds a news conference during the provincial election in Calgary on May 24, 2023. The Canadian Press/Todd Korol

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says her province will do “everything within its legal jurisdiction” to oppose Ottawa’s plan to mandate the exclusive sale of zero-emission electric vehicles (EVs) in Canada by 2035.

“Alberta’s government supports reducing emissions from the transportation sector and supporting Albertans who wish to drive lower-emissions vehicles,” the premier said in an X post on Dec. 19 shortly after the federal government’s announcement. “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.”

Ms. Smith added that her government will “do everything within its legal jurisdiction to thwart implementation of these unconstitutional regulations in our province.”

Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault said on Dec. 19 that Canadian vehicle manufacturers will be required to ensure that at least one-fifth of the vehicles they sell in 2026 are fully electric or plug-in hybrids, with the number rising to three-fifths by 2030 and then to 100 percent by 2035.

Automakers will be issued credits by the Canadian Environmental Protection Act for the EVs they sell, with an electric model worth one credit and plug-in hybrids worth a partial or full credit depending on the distance they can travel on a single charge. Manufacturers that sell more EVs than needed to meet each year’s target will be able to bank those credits to meet targets in future years or sell them to companies that did not sell enough.

Ms. Smith said her government has already purchased hydrogen-powered vehicles, is funding pilots to test long-range hydrogen trucks for industry and buses, and is working with partners to improve access to EV charging stations.

“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,” she said.

Grid ‘Not Equipped’ to Meet EV Demand: Smith

The Alberta premier called the federal government’s approach to EVs a “disaster” and the announcement hypocritical after Federal Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development Jerry DeMarco recently found that the federal government is not meeting its own target of having 80 percent of its fleet vehicles net zero by 2030. The report found that at the current rate, only 1 percent of federal government vehicles will be zero emission by the end of the decade.

“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,” Ms. Smith said.

The Alberta premier also claimed that the rapid shift to electric vehicles would put more demands on the electricity grid at a time when federal electricity regulations are “weakening” the province’s grid. Ottawa has also proposed a plan for a net-zero electricity grid by 2035, which would require the province to make significant changes to its majority natural gas-powered grid.

Ms. Smith said the province’s grids are “not equipped to handle the massive demand surge that a forced full-scale transition to EVs would need,” adding that adequate financial assistance has not been provided. She also raised concerns that Albertans who commute long distances would not be able to avoid EVs.

“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,” Ms. Smith said.

“Canadians deserve more than destructive virtue-signaling regulations and unachievable targets. Unfortunately, this federal government continues to show that it is all rhetoric and no substance.”

Ms. Smith has repeatedly pushed back against Ottawa’s green energy policies, saying she would fight against its recently announced regulatory framework to cut oil and gas emissions by 35 to 38 percent from 2019 levels, and invoking Alberta’s Sovereignty Act in response to Ottawa’s plan for a net-zero electricity grid by 2035.

She has also requested that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau replace Mr. Guilbeault as environment minister, saying his attitude toward her province has been “absolutely unacceptable.”