Liberals freeze EV rebates for Teslas over trade spat
Ottawa will exclude Tesla from future EV incentives and rebate programs over the U.S. tariffs.
Canada has halted all rebate payments for Tesla electric vehicles until the trade war with the United States has been resolved.
Ottawa will exclude Tesla from future incentives and rebate programs due to the “illegitimate and illegal U.S. tariffs are imposed against Canada,” reads a statement from Transport Minister Chrystia Freeland.
The electric car mandate was considered finished by auto-executives after cabinet pulled the plug on rebates it could no longer afford. “If you cannot secure adequate funding for it, get rid of it,” said a cabal of concerned automakers.
Canada quietly stopped its $5,000 rebates for all buyers on January 10, despite funding approved through March 31.
President Trump says Canada stole America's car industry and threatens to take it back by imposing steep tariffs on cars of up to 100%. pic.twitter.com/g0dDJm1dnr
— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) February 11, 2025
U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday announced upcoming auto tariffs, but they won't all be enforced by April 2nd. He imposed tariffs, mostly 25% on Canadian goods, due in early April.
In retaliation, Canada halted $43 million in rebate payments to Tesla and barred it from future programs.
The company claimed nearly $20 million in EV rebates by documenting over 4,000 sales in one weekend at a single Quebec City dealership.
Ontario also ceased financial incentives for Tesla taxis and ride shares over trade tensions.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk, head of the Department of Government Efficiency, has been leading the White House effort to shrink the federal government and budget.
Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault has mandated that 60% of all new passenger vehicles sold by 2030 must be electric.
— Rebel News Canada (@RebelNews_CA) August 30, 2024
The cost of electric vehicles would need to plummet by 31% to meet his unrealistic sales targets.
READ by @SheilaGunnReid: https://t.co/oizKh4rnne
Steven Guilbeault, the former environment minister, planned to bar new gas and oil vehicle sales by 2035.
According to department figures Canada sold or leased only 546,000 EVS since 2019, when the program launched, reported the Epoch Times.
Electrics constitute only 11.7% of all vehicle sales in 2023—up from 3.1% in 2019. The mandate pegged sales at 20% for 2026 to no avail.
EV sales plummeted in recent years—making optimistic projections “a complete fantasy,” reported Blacklock’s.
Auto industry representatives slam the Liberals' "Zero Emission Vehicle mandate."
— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) January 14, 2025
"Instead of incorporating industry and expert input, the federal government relied on ill-conceived analysis from environmental groups posing as automotive experts." pic.twitter.com/yemsaFgK2D
Automakers have pushed back for years, noting the mandate cannot be fulfilled amid ongoing affordability and infrastructure concerns.
A report last August 29 from the Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) confirmed most Canadians could not afford electric cars without taxpayer handouts.
“We estimate the relative ownership cost of battery electric vehicles would need to decrease by 31 percent to meet the zero emission vehicle sales target,” said the report Electric Vehicle Availability Standard: Potential Impacts On Ownership Costs And Charger Supply.
In addition, a 2023 Regulatory Impact Analysis Statement angered drivers, as they face more than $17 billion in added costs from the mandate.
That counters claims from Guilbeault, who repeatedly lauded the cost-savings of his mandate. “This will help Canadians with the cost of living,” he told reporters in 2023. “Once you drive a car off the lot the savings on fueling and maintenance costs are enormous.”
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COMMENTS
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Bernhard Jatzeck commented 2025-03-26 20:33:34 -0400Yeah, punishing Canadians. That’ll show Musk,eh? -
S M commented 2025-03-26 20:23:30 -0400China is on the way out I’m thinking, there are thousands of EV’s rotting in fields in China, the whole gig is up and the scam/fraud, is being exposed more and more every day.
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Bruce Atchison commented 2025-03-26 19:52:29 -0400This proves how STUPID the Liberals are. They brought those rebates in to help sell electric cars. Then they yank them away from Tesla for political reasons. The Liberals seem to prefer Chinese-made EVs. That shows who they really are working for.
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S M commented 2025-03-26 19:43:40 -0400I guess the true colours of the scum have risen to the Liberal surface, politics of the person out weigh the so called “green movement,” now we know it’s all about a fraud movement when the so called “green energy” gets blown up, vandalized, owners threatened and all the general rage. Two years ago Elon was a hero, now that he’s showing you idiots all the fraud and mismanagement he’s an “A-hole,” scum mentality from human scum.
Biden put politics over returning human beings back to earth that love their country and risk their lives every second of their journey to better mankind, because Musk offered a “ride home,” some of the finest demonstrations of human scum happened there.
We are all fed up with the dipshits, the covid masktard dipshits, the green fraud dipshits, the political dipshits and their lying Minion entourage of clapping Koolaid drinking fools.
Trudeau and a teenagers NDA teaching to Carney and the Epstein’s, open demonstrations of the finest of the human scum. Canadians have become some of the most ignorant dumbasses willfully burying their heads in the Liberal/NDP feces pile.
I guess the reality of their Liberal/NDP votes is even too much for them to handle now, so they just run away, call you racist, homophobic, anti vax and whatever their broken brains strain to conjure up.
