Thank you, Mr. Chair.
My name is Daniel Breton. I'm the president and CEO of Electric Mobility Canada, or EMC.
EMC is Canada's transportation electrification industry association. It has over 190 members, including car manufacturers, truck and bus manufacturers, labour unions and research centres. Also, I'm certainly the most knowledgeable and experienced person in Canada to talk about this, having worked in the auto industry on the Sainte-Thérese assembly line, from repair to assembly to sales. I also worked as a writer. In fact, last year I wrote a book called 50 Myths and Half-truths about Electric Vehicles. I was also a member of Parliament and Minister of the Environment. In 2012, I was responsible for the first proposed transportation electrification strategy in Canada.
According to a 2025 report by Ernst & Young, our industry already employs 130,000 workers, and it is expected to employ between 360,000 and 600,000 over the next 10 years.
Today I won't talk about the details surrounding the EV availability standard. I would rather talk about the facts versus the fake news or falsehoods surrounding it.
As facts, the purpose of the EVAS is, first, to make sure that Canadians have access to a growing choice of affordable EVs, which we don't have right now, as Joanna just said. Second, it's to bring market predictability to companies investing in the EV industry in Canada all along the supply chain, from mining to infrastructure to mobility to electricity production to R and D. Third, it's for Canada to lower GHG emissions and air pollution, helping to save thousands of Canadian lives and billions of dollars in health costs.
Now let's talk about the falsehoods.
First, according to some people, it's going to make cars less affordable. That's false. It's actually the exact opposite. Right now we don't have access to affordable cars, whether gas or electric.
Second is the idea that it's the equivalent of a $20,000 tax on cars with gasoline engines. That's false as well. Saying that means that the people who say it do not understand the EVAS credit system or that some people are misleading Canadians.
Third is that carmakers have to sell 20% EVs in 2026. That's false as well. Because of the early compliance credit system and other flexibilities, no carmaker has to sell 20% EVs in 2026.
Fourth is that Tesla was going to be the carmaker selling most of the credits. That's false as well. In 2023 in California, GM was the carmaker that sold the most credits, almost three times as many as Tesla. As well, who sold the most EVs in Canada last year? It was GM.
Fifth is that it's going to cost 38,000 jobs. That's false. The Canadian professor who wrote that so-called report conveniently forgot to include the jobs created in the EV industry, but then again, he is the same person who co-signed the Trump administration report on energy and climate this summer.
Sixth is that the EVAS is redundant because we also have GHG emission regulations in place for light-duty vehicles. Well, that's false, as that regulation is designed to be aligned with the U.S. regulation, which is now being scrapped by the U.S. administration, so beyond the 2026 model year, there will be no GHG emission regulation left.
Seventh is the idea that the EVAS is akin to “banning the rural way of life”. I live in rural Canada, so I know this is false, not only because I travel across rural Canada day in and day out with an electric car—I do 50,000 to 60,000 kilometres a year—but also because PHEVs are included in the regulation, which means that you don't have to worry about charging if you don't feel comfortable driving a BEV.
Regarding the so-called “freedom of choice” argument, the truth is that right now, Canadians do not have the choice of buying the vehicle they want; they have, rather, the choice of buying the vehicle that carmakers have decided to offer them from the U.S. To me, choice and affordability are very important points.
Anybody with common sense knows that the Trump administration right now is moving in the wrong direction, not only on EVs but on science, on the environment, on health and on the jobs that will come to define the 21st century. Those who advocate that Canada should scrap the regulation and instead blindly follow Donald Trump's path on EV policies and regulation while he is currently in the process of eliminating regulation and setting the U.S. back 50 years are certainly not acting in the best interests of Canadians. Indeed, their stance would only subordinate our regulations and our interests to those of the U.S., as if we were the 51st state, so the real question is this: As Canadians, are we supporting health, the environment and jobs in Canada, or are we supporting 51st state policies?
Thank you.