Evidence of meeting #12 for Environment and Sustainable Development in the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was vehicles.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Bruce Fanjoy Liberal Carleton, ON
Mr. Chair, I have a point of order.
Rapid fire is fine, but when we have two people talking at the same time, it's hard for the—
Conservative
David Bexte Conservative Bow River, AB
It's hard for the interpreters. I appreciate that.
The grid build-out related to that.... Do you capture that in terms of the cost to the consumer for the EV mandate?
Director General, Energy and Transportation, Department of the Environment
Derek, maybe I'll turn to you on that.
Conservative
David Bexte Conservative Bow River, AB
Can you quantify that? How much per unit is the grid build-out required by the EV mandate going to cost the consumer?
Director General, Economic Analysis Directorate, Department of the Environment
When we do the analysis, it's an integrated analysis, so it takes into account increased electricity demand. We do model the provincial system, so we would have an idea of how that would affect rates in each province.
Conservative
David Bexte Conservative Bow River, AB
Can you tell me how much per unit—just the transmission cost? Can you provide it?
Director General, Economic Analysis Directorate, Department of the Environment
I don't have that in front of me, but I can provide it to the committee.
Conservative
David Bexte Conservative Bow River, AB
Thank you.
By imposing the mandates, Canada is risking.... Well, Canada is pushing. The most recent narrative is that Canada is pushing vehicle production south to the U.S. Has the department conducted any economic analysis on how the regulations have hurt domestic auto manufacturing? Do they reflect the reality of today, and are you going to update that forecast?
Assistant Deputy Minister, Environmental Protection Branch, Department of the Environment
I would just clarify, Mr. Chair, that the mandate does not apply to manufacturing in Canada. It applies to vehicles sold in Canada. Ninety per cent of our manufacturing goes to the U.S., but we will be looking at all of this as part of the review.
Conservative
David Bexte Conservative Bow River, AB
I understand that, but manufacturing is leaving, isn't it? We have plants closing, jobs.... There are the billions of dollars that are put into the battery plants, and nothing is happening, is it? We're not going to build anything.
At the same time, we have domestic companies—like Edison Motors, which is building diesel hybrids that are not necessarily plug-in hybrids and that are far more efficient than what the equivalent market is—having a great deal of difficulty bumping into ECCC to get their product approved to even develop.
Where does the department sit on this?
Assistant Deputy Minister, Environmental Protection Branch, Department of the Environment
Could the member just clarify which item he would like the department to weigh in on?
Conservative
David Bexte Conservative Bow River, AB
Weigh in on all of them.
I would like to know, first off, if you know how much you're hurting manufacturing. What is the cost to manufacturing, and how many jobs do you think are going to flee the country?
Assistant Deputy Minister, Environmental Protection Branch, Department of the Environment
The mandate does not apply to manufacturing. It applies to sales.
Conservative
David Bexte Conservative Bow River, AB
I understand that, but it's the consequence of the mandate. Manufacturers are ceasing operations and transferring operations out of the country.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Environmental Protection Branch, Department of the Environment
At this point, we do not have any evidence to show that this is due to the electric vehicle availability standard.
Conservative
David Bexte Conservative Bow River, AB
Tell that to the thousands of people who are out of their jobs.
We'll go to the hybrid diesel-electric.
November 3rd, 2025 / 11:55 a.m.
Director General, Energy and Transportation, Department of the Environment
On that point about Edison, these regulations don't apply to Edison, just to be clear.
Conservative
David Bexte Conservative Bow River, AB
Absolutely. That's my point.
They don't apply, so they cannot get approval to develop their hybrid diesel-electric.
Director General, Energy and Transportation, Department of the Environment
No, I don't think that's correct.
I don't want to get too much into the Edison issue, because I don't think it would be appropriate, but those are the on-road regulations for air pollution and the heavy-duty truck regulations.
Director General, Energy and Transportation, Department of the Environment
This is not the EVAS, just to be clear on that point.
Conservative
David Bexte Conservative Bow River, AB
It doesn't matter. You're not letting these local innovators evolve into something that might be useful because it's a ground-up development.
We've heard lots of talk about the mandates being a strong signal, and the strong signal is sending manufacturing out of Canada.
Are you quantifying at all the EV credits that are being paid domestically?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Angelo Iacono
I'm sorry about that. The time is up.
We'll go to Mr. Fanjoy for five minutes.
Liberal
Bruce Fanjoy Liberal Carleton, ON
Thank you, witnesses, for joining us today.
In your testimony, you talked about the lower total ownership costs of EVs. You talked about the lower cost of maintenance and the lower operating costs. I believe I heard that, on average, a Canadian passenger vehicle requires 3,000 dollars' worth of gas per year compared to roughly $300—or a few hundred, I think, was your term—to energize an electric vehicle.
Those are compelling differences. I think the market—the long-term trend, as was referred to—is going to see Canadians take advantage of those advantages.
As the world transitions toward electrifying transportation, what are the consequences for Canadians if Canada lags the world in this transition?
Assistant Deputy Minister, Environmental Protection Branch, Department of the Environment
I think there are a few consequences. One, as the member has pointed out, is that Canadians will potentially miss out on the benefit of lower costs. Even though the upfront purchase price of electric vehicles is still higher, that is expected to reach parity with conventional vehicles in the future, so the cost benefits to Canadians are only going to increase. That's one potential risk.
The other is the ability of Canada to attract a wide range of these vehicles, so that Canadians will have choice. I think that's really a key element of the transition.
Thirdly, I think it's just making sure that our domestic sector can continue to benefit from the zero-emission vehicle transition, and that we can be a leader and not a laggard in this space.