Of the thousands of new vehicles bought by federal departments and agencies in the past two years, a small fraction, less than 5%, were electric. Records show Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault’s department bought gas burners even as he warned Canadians to do their part for climate change, according to Blacklock's Reporter..Cabinet in an Inquiry Of Ministry tabled in the House of Commons said of 2,899 vehicles purchased by federal departments and agencies in the past two years, a total 137 were electric and 782 were hybrids. The majority had gas and diesel engines..“Canadians believe we need to do our fair share when it comes to fighting climate change,” Minister Guilbeault told the Commons November 22. “They believe climate change is real and they believe we need to be doing something about it.”.Guilbeault went further on October 27 in depicting climate change as a matter of life and death. “More than 600 lives were lost in British Columbia due to heat waves and forest fires which is something we have never seen in the history of this country,” said Guilbeault. “It was the costliest natural catastrophe in the history of our country. Who do the Official Opposition members think is paying for the tens of billions of dollars that climate change is costing?”.Records showed Guilbeault’s Department of Environment bought 122 vehicles at a $5.6 million cost, typically Ford and Chevrolet pickups No new department vehicles were electric. A total 34 were hybrids..The Inquiry was tabled at the request of Conservative MP Jamie Schmale (Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes, Ont.) who asked, “With regard to purchases of vehicles by the government since January 1, 2020, what was the total number and value of vehicles purchased? And what are details of each purchase?”.Figures showed departments and agencies spent $120.3 million on new vehicles over the past two years. The 2,899 purchases did not include RCMP patrol cars, military vehicles or trucks and vans in the post office fleet, the largest in Canada..Parks Canada, an agency under Minister Guilbeault’s supervision, bought 199 vehicles at a cost of $7,671,336. Only 25 were electric..The Privy Council Office spent $345,929 on seven new vehicles, mainly Ford vans and SUVs. None were electric. Of 31 vehicles purchased at a $1.3 million cost by the Department of Natural Resources only three were electric..The Department of Industry spent $69,900 on a Tesla sedan. The Department of Public Works spent $3 million on 72 new vehicles including two electrics, a $62,658 Chevrolet Blazer and $76,583 Ford F-150 pickup..Guilbeault has mandated that Canada abolish new sales of gas and diesel vehicles by 2035. The Senate energy committee in a 2017 report concluded lowering emissions in road transportation “is going to be a huge challenge.”.“If all the cars, trucks, planes, trains and ships were to disappear from Canada by 2030 we would still fall far short of meeting our national greenhouse gas reduction commitments,” said the committee report Decarbonizing Transportation In Canada. Road vehicles account for most emissions..“You could try to stop using fossil fuel, but that’s impossible,” then-Senator Richard Neufeld (B.C.), chair of the energy committee, said in an interview at the time. “People say to me you have to set some kind of target and try to achieve it. That’s fine, but it has to be achievable.”
