Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise on behalf of the hard-driving Canadians of Algonquin—Renfrew—Pembroke.
The Liberal plan to ban the internal combustion engine is an act of pure economic vandalism. When this Soviet-style car sales mandate is combined with Trump's auto tariffs, it would mean the death of domestic car manufacturing. This is government-assisted suicide for the Canadian automobile industry.
If this horrific Liberal policy is allowed to proceed, the damage it would unleash would spread out far beyond the auto industry. This regressive policy would hurt lower-income Canadians, students and refugees. This idiotic policy discriminates against rural Canadians and remote first nations. This proudly socialist policy would push up electricity prices while paving over paradise to put up a solar farm.
Over the last 10 years of Liberal rule, we have seen some overtly communist or Marxist policies. For example, there is the Liberal plan to search the homes of 2.3 million Canadians for firearms that look scary to people who know nothing about hunting. There is the plan to ban plastic food packaging so Canadians will eat less fresh food, fruits and vegetables, while being forced to eat food packed with preservatives.
This car ban struts around wearing a Che Guevara shirt. It was one thing when we had a prime minister who made dumb statements like that the budget will balance itself or that he does not think about monetary policy. Despite replacing the drama teacher with an economist, we still have a government committed to this economic lunacy.
Just so Canadians understand, the Liberals are proposing to impose massive fines on carmakers that do not sell enough electric vehicles, or EVs. Obviously, carmakers cannot go around forcing people to buy their electric vehicles, especially if they do not currently manufacture electric vehicles. How will carmakers ensure they sell enough EVs? They will do it by drastically raising the prices of internal combustion vehicles. When prices go up, demand goes down.
Unfortunately, carmakers that do not currently produce any zero-emission vehicles will have to leave the Canadian market entirely or pay a $20,000 tax for every non-EV car they sell. The result will be much higher prices, less competition and fewer choices for consumers. The only winners with this policy are the all-electric carmakers, such as Tesla and BYD. That might be great for the United States and China, but it leaves Canada more reliant on two countries that do not always have our best interests at heart.
The Parliamentary Budget Officer recently reported that the price of EVs would have to come down by 30% for the mandate to work. Since that is not likely to happen with 100% tariffs on Chinese EVs, the only choice would be to increase the price of internal combustion vehicles by 30%. This is effectively a $20,000 car tax. This would price millions of Canadians out of the new car market. Those millions of Canadians would then turn to the used car market. The price of used cars would go up. Canadians who could just afford a new car would be forced to buy used. Canadians who could just afford to buy a used car would be forced to take on more debt or go without a vehicle entirely.
That may be an option if someone can afford to rent or own a home in a major city with public transit. Those living outside of major cities, such as the 108,000 people living in my riding, would have no options. That means they could not work. Maybe the government plans to give those vacant jobs to laid-off auto workers.
By hiking prices on new vehicles, demand goes down, which means production must go down. Fewer cars being sold means fewer people working in the industry. That means fewer auto plant workers, fewer car part workers and fewer car salesmen. Those laid off would cut back on spending, leading to fewer jobs in service industries. Those who could still manage to afford a vehicle would have less money to spend after paying the higher prices.
None of this is a surprise to government. All of this is spelled out in the regulations: Zero-emission vehicles, or ZEVs, “are expected to generally cost more than non-ZEVs, and this vehicle price increase could lead to a reduction in the quantity of vehicles purchased.”
By their own estimate, this policy would cost Canadians an extra $54 billion. Leaving Canadians poorer than before really is the hallmark of the Liberal government. Lower-income Canadians will not be able to afford a car, but they will still be forced to pay taxes to subsidize an EV BMW for Canadians who can well afford it.
This policy clearly discriminates against rural and remote Canadians. Pricing millions of Canadians out of the car-buying market, the government will have a devastating impact on rural communities. Without access to affordable transportation to get to work or to medical appointments, these Canadians will be forced to leave their homes and move to the cities.
Even rural Canadians fortunate enough to afford an EV may find themselves trapped when the temperatures drop. Despite claims repeated by Liberal ministers, Canada is not Norway. I had the opportunity to travel to northern Norway to observe the Canadian Armed Forces participate in NATO exercises. Norway's capital, Oslo, sits just a few degrees below the Arctic Circle. It is a winter Olympics superpower, but it is also a coastal country with a milder climate than Canada's. Ottawa, in January, is 10°C colder than Oslo.
Canada is also 26 times bigger. Once we start driving north up the Trans-Canada Highway, things get a lot colder. In -25°C, the range of an electric vehicle drops by half. This might not matter much in a big city when the commute to work and back is 40 kilometres, but in rural communities in Canada, the closest hospital can easily be beyond the range of an electric car.
We have not even touched the reliability of the electric grid in rural and remote parts of Canada. We have seen during ice storms that cities regain power much faster than remote areas. Going without electricity for three weeks is unimaginable for people who live in major cities; living in rural Canada, it is just a reality.
Whether it is an ice storm, a solar storm or a cyber-attack, for rural Canadians forced to buy electric vehicles, the result is the same: Once the EV battery depletes, they are trapped. They cannot drive to the grocery store. The EV ambulances cannot get to them if they are sick or hurt. The EV fire trucks cannot put out fires. Without electricity, people will die.
This Liberal policy clearly discriminates against those of us who live in rural and remote communities. The tired, old Liberals love to deny the reality they reveal in their regulations. They will look us straight in the face and tell us they are making life more affordable. We can literally quote their own regulations back to them and they still will not believe themselves.
This policy will make cars unaffordable for millions, but the plan does not stop there. Ontario's electricity power operator found that to meet the net-zero goal using only renewables would require an area 400 times the size of Toronto. How many trees must die to make the Liberals' green dream a reality?
The Liberal government recently committed to reclaiming 30% of Canada's developed lands. This is a government at war with itself. Has the proud socialist minister finally abandoned his opposition to nuclear power? When the minister declared an end to road building, was it a preview of a carless Canada?
Forcing an early adoption of EVs before we have the electric infrastructure ready will mean higher energy prices. It is not just about building more EV chargers. Every local transformer in every community in Canada will need to be replaced. Electro-Federation Canada estimates the cost at $350 billion, and costs will be passed along to consumers. Energy poverty will increase.
Thanks to the leadership of Pierre Poilievre, Canadians have been liberated from the carbon tax. Thanks to the Liberal Party, all those gains will be lost due to higher electricity prices. Canadians will pay more for electricity, and they will pay more for cars.
Rural Canadians who cannot afford cars will be forced to move to the cities. Our domestic auto industry will disappear. Canadians will be forced to pay higher taxes to subsidize battery makers and $60,000 cars. This policy will leave all Canadians worse off.