A report on ZEVIP, the Zero Emission Vehicle Infrastructure Program, was released last week. It says in the report that Canada will achieve its targets for 2026 in relation to charging and refuelling stations for electric and hydrogen-powered vehicles and in relation to fast chargers and level 2 chargers. Beyond that, we have to make sure that funding continues.
For those who are not aware, this year is the 110th anniversary of subsidies by the United States to its oil companies. This means that those companies have received a lot of money, for decades, to install oil and gas infrastructure in North America. The United States therefore has a 110‑year head start when it comes to electrification of transportation.
We think the program has to continue because it allows for predictability in terms of the market and ensures that there are facilities for everyone. One of the gaps mentioned in the report by the Office of the Auditor General of Canada dealt with the supply of charging and hydrogen refuelling stations in rural and remote regions, including in the Canadian prairies. Once you get off the highway or outside the big cities, charging stations are a definite challenge. In Quebec, the challenge is different, because the Hydro-Québec electrical network brought about an incredible change when it comes to the supply of charging stations.
We published a survey a few weeks ago that revealed that in Quebec, 97% of people who own an electric vehicle want to purchase another one. In Ontario, where there are fewer and lower quality facilities, it is 83%. That means there is a 14 percentage point difference between Ontario and Quebec, when those provinces are located side by side.
Charging stations are doing to be extremely important. The program has to continue, but it needs to be improved. For now, funding is being granted for charging stations, but some networks are not reliable. There are very high performing charging networks, like the electrical and other networks, but there are others that are not reliable. What we are proposing is to attach infrastructure reliability parameters to the funding.