{"id":17276,"date":"2025-07-23T05:55:06","date_gmt":"2025-07-23T05:55:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/17276\/"},"modified":"2025-07-23T05:55:06","modified_gmt":"2025-07-23T05:55:06","slug":"ottawa-in-talks-with-automakers-over-ev-sales-mandates-joly-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/17276\/","title":{"rendered":"Ottawa in talks with automakers over EV sales mandates, Joly says"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Car companies have been lobbying the federal government to repeal the sales mandate, which requires one in five new vehicles sold in Canada by 2026 to be zero emission.Galit Rodan\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

The federal government is assessing the appropriate level for its zero-emission vehicle sales requirement as it discusses various ways to support Canada\u2019s hard-hit auto sector, Industry Minister M\u00e9lanie Joly says. <\/p>\n

In an interview with The Globe and Mail, Ms. Joly said the government is in active discussions with automakers about the ZEV mandate, which requires one in five new vehicles sold in Canada by 2026 to be zero emission. This rises to 60 per cent by 2030 and 100 per cent by 2035.<\/p>\n

Car companies, including Ford F-N<\/a>, General Motors GM-N<\/a> and Stellantis STLA-N<\/a>, have been lobbying Ottawa to repeal the mandate entirely<\/a>. They say falling electric-vehicle sales in Canada make it impossible to hit the 2026 target, and that the regulation will pile pain on an industry already fighting to survive U.S. President Donald Trump<\/a>\u2019s auto tariffs.<\/p>\n

Canada\u2019s love affair with EVs has stalled, putting Ottawa\u2019s mandate in doubt<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI am a very pragmatic person,\u201d Ms. Joly told The Globe. \u201cIt\u2019s not the goal of the government to be disconnected from reality when it comes to what is going on across the country, which is, at this point, there has been a drop in sales of electric vehicles and 25-per-cent tariffs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why we\u2019re working with them to find what would be that right level,\u201d she said, noting that the government is also planning to reintroduce its subsidy for EV purchases, which ended in January.<\/p>\n

Ms. Joly, who is Ottawa\u2019s point person on the auto industry, declined to provide details about any potential changes to the EV mandate being discussed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are in active conversation to see how can we support them, while continuing to continue in our vision of helping the transition to electric vehicles,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The federal government has already announced several measures to support Canada\u2019s export-oriented auto industry, which has seen its competitive position eroded by Mr. Trump\u2019s 25-per-cent tariffs<\/a> on foreign vehicles. (Canadian and Mexican automakers have a partial exemption, and don\u2019t pay tariffs on the value of U.S. auto parts in their vehicles exports.)<\/p>\n

In March, Prime Minister Mark Carney<\/a> pledged $2-billion for a \u201cstrategic response fund\u201d aimed at boosting the sector\u2019s competitiveness and supporting auto jobs, and he promised government vehicle procurement would focus on Canadian-made cars. He also introduced a remission system that allows the big U.S. auto companies to export a certain quantity of U.S.-made vehicles to Canada tariff-free if they maintain production levels in Canada. <\/p>\n

Ottawa to reimburse auto dealers for unpaid EV rebates<\/a><\/p>\n

Automakers and auto workers unions say measures to address trade disruptions need to happen alongside policy changes that account for the fall in EV sales. <\/p>\n

Sales of zero-emission vehicles \u2013 which include battery, fuel cell, or plug-in hybrid vehicles \u2013 fell by 32 per cent in May from a year ago to comprise 7.9 per cent of all new car sales, Statistics Canada says. To meet the required ratio in 2026 at current sales levels, carmakers could be forced to withhold one million internal combustion engine vehicles from Canadian dealer lots, according to industry analysis.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only way they can avoid the penalty is to cut down on the production of internal combustion engines, which is like shooting yourself in the foot,\u201d said Jeff Gray, president of the Unifor local that represents workers at General Motors\u2019s Oshawa truck plant. <\/p>\n

Carmakers that do not meet the thresholds must purchase credits on the open market and\/or limit the number of internal combustion cars for sale. The industry says the plunge in Tesla Inc. TSLA-Q<\/a> sales has made credits scarce and expensive, and the sales targets are not attainable.<\/p>\n

David Adams, chief executive officer of Global Automakers of Canada, which represents Canada\u2019s largest automakers, Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. Ltd., and several overseas brands, said any mandate needs to be attainable and updated regularly.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt needs to be reviewed on a regular basis to make sure that what consumers are purchasing is actually taking us on the right path to meet those targets,\u201d Mr. Adams said, \u201cbecause it\u2019s easy to throw out numbers; it\u2019s a lot more difficult to convince consumers \u2026 to make those purchases.\u201d<\/p>\n

The conversations around the ZEV mandate have picked up in recent weeks. The chief executives of Ford Motor Company of Canada, General Motors of Canada Co. and Stellantis Canada met with Mr. Carney in Ottawa in early July. <\/p>\n

There have been subsequent meetings between auto industry representatives and government officials. Mr. Adams said there are four ministries involved in the talks held last week and in June \u2013 Industry, Environment, Finance and Infrastructure. <\/p>\n

Brian Kingston, president of the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers\u2019 Association, which represents Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, said he left a meeting last week with Environment Minister Julie Dabrusin feeling discouraged. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a line of communication, however, she has been clear that the government will not repeal the mandate, which is a problem because it is extremely damaging,\u201d Mr. Kingston said. Ms. Dabrusin\u2019s office did not immediately respond to e-mailed questions.<\/p>\n

Opinion: Trump\u2019s tariffs threaten to cripple Canada\u2019s EV manufacturing industry before it gets off the ground<\/a><\/p>\n

The auto industry is only part of Ms. Joly\u2019s portfolio. She\u2019s also helping lead the government\u2019s efforts to support other industries that have been hit by tariffs, notably the steel and aluminum sectors, which face U.S. levies of 50 per cent. <\/p>\n

Ottawa rolled out a broad support package for the steel sector in two phases over the past month. This includes tariffs on steel coming into Canada<\/a> above a certain quota, $1-billion through Canada\u2019s Strategic Innovation Fund to help companies rejig their production and supply chains and new rules to promote the use of Canadian-made steel in government procurement. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you look at the steel sector, the 50-per-cent tariff is an incredible barrier to not only export, but to the business model that was developed at the time, which was basically to support U.S. auto manufacturing. And right now that\u2019s not possible,\u201d Ms. Joly said. <\/p>\n

She said the goal of the steel measures is to help producers pivot to supplying domestic markets, including the construction and defence industries. \u201cWe need to make sure that they\u2019re developing the type of steel for the industries that we need them to service now in the country,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

The government has not yet announced supports for the aluminum industry, but Ms. Joly said the government is talking with companies about various measures, with a focus on \u201cthe smaller players right now that are much more affected.\u201d <\/p>\n

The aluminum industry is in a better position than the steel industry because the U.S. is much more reliant on Canadian exports of aluminum, and Canadian producers have benefited from a spike in prices in the U.S.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Car companies have been lobbying the federal government to repeal the sales mandate,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17277,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[45,49,48,8400],"class_list":{"0":"post-17276","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-e-ny"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17276"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17276\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}