Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Over the last 10 years, at least, there's been a national-provincial strategy to electrify Canada and the province of B.C. I was an MLA there when I first found out about CleanBC's mandate to have electric cars mandated as a purchaser's option. That's what they called it, but it wasn't really a purchaser's option, because there was a penalty attached to it. The goal was 90% EVs in B.C. by 2030 and 100% EVs by 2035.
The penalty was a $20,000 charge put on retailers that would then be passed on to consumers, which was very unaffordable. Even without the rebate, it was very unaffordable for low-income earners. As soon as the rebates started being questioned or dropped, people stopped purchasing EVs.
I've heard the argument from the witnesses saying that we should not walk away from the EV mandate. Do the witnesses—I'll direct my question to Mr. Wiseman—think the $20,000 penalty attached to EVs should remain as well?