Environment Committee on April 16th, 2026

[Mark Cauchi]

I think that's for Transport Canada. It's not concerning the EVAS program, I think, is fair to say.

[The Chair, Liberal, Shannon Miedema]

Okay, excellent. Thank you very much.

I'll now turn to Mr. St-Pierre for five minutes.

[Eric St-Pierre, Liberal, Honoré-Mercier, QC]

Thank you. I'll pick up on that.

Ms. Anstey, your constituents must be really excited, or as my colleague François would say, there's really good news for your constituents because the $1.5-billion Canada Infrastructure Bank loan program will actually help a lot of folks living in remote regions. For example, my mom was in town recently. She lives in northern Ontario. It's about a seven-hour drive from Ottawa. I go there two or three times a year with my electric vehicle, which I'm able to charge along the way. I do it when it's -30°.

As my colleague knows, there are a lot of electric cars in Estrie, Lanaudière, the Laurentians and just about everywhere in Quebec.

Then I would say to Ms. van der Kamp that it's really about affordability.

We're saving money. As an EV owner, every year I'm paying money to Hydro-Québec, and this saves me a lot of money on that. It's an affordability measure.

Mr. Cauchi, I'll ask you a question about the emissions standard, which has replaced EVAS.

Can you explain to this committee why this new emissions standard will reduce emissions in the transportation sector? Maybe you could give us a quick overview of the greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector and how this new standard will help address that important part of our climate agenda.

Also, I'd like you to elaborate on the figures of expanding EV sales by 75% by 2035 and 90% by 2040.

[Mark Cauchi]

Sure, I'd be happy to expand on some of our thinking.

The existing greenhouse gas performance standards for light-duty vehicles, as mentioned, have been in place for some time. These are performance-based standards and technology neutral, so they're based on OEMs bringing to market increasingly more efficient vehicles, including electric vehicles, conventional hybrids, plug-in hybrids, more efficient ICE vehicles, etc.

The basis of that regulation is essentially a sales-weighted fleet average. Each company will have the ability to manage its own average.

There are a number of flexibilities in that regulation, including the ability to buy, sell and to bank compliance credits moving forward. Historically, there have been some other compliance credits, including for off-cycle issues, to allow greater flexibility for innovative technologies. We're in the process of exploring what the Canadian sovereign regulation will contain. We're not ready to divulge that, but certainly it will be published in the Canada Gazette in the coming months and will show Canadians exactly what the government is thinking in terms of the structure of the regulation.

Suffice it to say, we've seen improvements in vehicle efficiency and emissions from individual vehicles in a substantial way since the government first published these regulations in 2011. We see about a 53% improvement in cars and about a 38% improvement in light truck performance as a result of these regulations, and as we double the stringency moving forward, we'll see even greater improvements and lower greenhouse gas emissions.

[Eric St-Pierre, Liberal, Honoré-Mercier, QC]

Great. Thank you very much.

Ms. van der Kamp, you mentioned earlier the $2.3-billion EV subsidy program. Can you quickly elaborate on how many Canadians will benefit from this program? How many Canadians do you anticipate will be able to purchase a new EV? Also, can you share some details on whether Canadians have already started to benefit from this program?

[Anna van der Kamp]

I can definitely speak to the programs that support chargers. The $1.5 billion from the Canada Infrastructure Bank is going to get, I understand from their officials, probably about 10,000 public chargers. Just to be clear, those are public, mostly fast, chargers. The zero emission vehicle infrastructure program has supported about 54,000 chargers, and those are for the most part for level 2. Almost half of those are for multi-unit residential buildings, enabling 30,000 Canadians with more direct charging. We also support public charging, level 2 and level 3, and many Canadians are going to benefit from those chargers being in convenient places.

Is that helpful?

[Eric St-Pierre, Liberal, Honoré-Mercier, QC]

Yes. Thank you.

Am I out of time?

[The Chair, Liberal, Shannon Miedema]

Yes. Thank you, Mr. St-Pierre.

Mr. Simard, you have the floor for two and a half minutes.

[Mario Simard, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

Thank you very much.

I can't help but debunk some myths, Madam Chair. I live 650 kilometres from here, in Saguenay—Lac‑Saint‑Jean. I'm able to cover that distance in an electric vehicle. When I'm lucky, it takes 10 minutes to recharge. I have an assistant with a small bladder who slows me down more than the electric vehicle, because she has to stop every 300 kilometres to use the restroom. I think that if we could solve the problem of people with small bladders who have to stop frequently to use the restroom, we'd be more efficient for those who have to make long road trips, but well, that's another story. However, let's say that technology is advancing very quickly and that there's no obstacle for someone who lives 650 kilometres away: You can reach your destination in an electric vehicle. It works very well. Fast charging doesn't waste our time.

The problem that persists for many Quebeckers and Canadians is access to reasonably priced vehicles. Canada is lagging behind in this regard. I don't understand why it's possible to find vehicles priced under $40,000 in Europe, but not in Canada.

If manufacturers aren't required to go 100% electric by 2035, I think they'll have less incentive to offer low-cost vehicles. Is access to low-cost vehicles something that's been considered in your strategy?

[Mark Cauchi]

Yes, of course, we took all these factors into account. It was really important to recognize the importance of the import sector, such as European vehicles or Asian vehicles from South Korea. Of course, there was the Prime Minister's announcement about EVs from China. That's part of our analysis. We hope to see a market in the future based on vehicles that are cheaper and more profitable for automakers.

[Mario Simard, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

Mr. Cauchi, when you appeared here before the committee—at the time when the Prime Minister set aside the 100% target by 2035—you said that consultations would be held. Have those consultations been completed? Can you make the findings of those consultations public?

[Mark Cauchi]

Yes, the consultations announced by the Prime Minister last September were conducted over a 60-day period. They focused on the EV availability standard. We received 35,000 submissions from Canadian stakeholders and interested parties.

[The Chair, Liberal, Shannon Miedema]

Thank you very much for that answer.

We have to move on now.

Now we have Mr. Bexte for five minutes.

[David Bexte, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

I have five minutes. Thank you very much, Madam Chair. I appreciate that. I was thinking I would have two and a half minutes, so I have all kinds of time to run down different rabbit holes.

Where do I begin? I think we're all susceptible to pursuing fallacies. The Scandinavia fallacy is that it's a northern climate. It's in the northern latitudes, but it's affected by the Gulf Stream. It's a very different climate.

What I want to look into a little bit more is the ring-fenced piece part cost that has been discussed. The car is cheap. It is under $30,000. It is going to be great, but that's an analysis in isolation. As you scale that out to society-wide application and the interference with all of the other parts, such as the distribution, the generation, the road maintenance and all the other stuff, where's the analysis that's been done on that?

Ms. van der Kamp, could you comment on that, on charging infrastructure cost at scale? We're redoing whole cities to provide enough electricity to all the residential units, and we're generating and transmitting. Has that cost analysis been done?

[Anna van der Kamp]

I would say that some cost analysis has been done in the years past.

We're going to do a study on the national charge, an assessment over this next year of the new situation that we have from a regulatory perspective, on demand generated by programs, and take a look at the potential requirements for the grid. That assessment is being done, again, given the new understanding.

[David Bexte, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

Is it currently under way now, or is it anticipated?

[Anna van der Kamp]

We're just starting the process right now.

[David Bexte, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

When do you expect the report will be completed?

[Anna van der Kamp]

It's by the end of the year.

[David Bexte, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

Will it be public?

[Anna van der Kamp]

Yes.

[Mark Cauchi]

Can I jump in?

[Anna van der Kamp]

Yes.

[Mark Cauchi]

When the government announced the electric vehicle availability standard in 2023, it did publish a forecast of the impact on the grid. I think the results were roughly a 9.5% increase in expected electricity demand by 2050. That assessment will obviously need to be updated.

As Anna mentioned earlier, most charging is happening overnight in households in Canada, when we have more surplus of power—

[David Bexte, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

This illustrates my point exactly. I'd like to interrupt you right now—