A major Canadian think tank has come out swinging against Ottawa's newly announced ban on gas and diesel vehicles.Canada’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Steven Guilbeault, recently announced an electric vehicle mandate that will restrict and then prohibit the sale of non-ZEV (zero-emissions vehicles) by 2035.This news, just days before Christmas, was unwelcome to the Macdonald-Laurier Institute. The Ottawa-based think tank responded by putting a carbon-filled lump of coal in the Liberal government's stocking."With just a handful of days left in 2023, the government couldn’t help but introduce one more unrealistic and counterproductive climate policy," the MLI said in a press release.MLI Director of Energy, Natural Resources, and Environment, Heather Exner-Pirot, said the government may have closed 2023 with its most Communist measure yet.“Of all the Soviet-style, top-down, market-defying policies they have implemented this year, this may be the most egregious," she said.The think tank said the new regulations were "terrible" because they ignored the total emissions throughout production, use, and disposal of the vehicle."They explicitly privilege EV [electric vehicle] technology but disregard broader environmental considerations," the MLI explained."An electric vehicle like the Ford F-150 Lightning will still be able to be sold in Canada in 2035, but a Honda Civic with an internal combustion engine will be banned – this fails to consider the life-cycle emissions."MLI also finds the mandate impractical."The new regulations also ignore the reality that many Canadians (renters, those living in apartment buildings/condos or in rural areas) won’t likely be able to charge at home. There are massive logistical and cost barriers to the adoption of EVs for many (if not most) Canadians," MLI said."Living up north where extreme cold can affect the performance of EV batteries? The Government acknowledges your concern but is blindly confident that the technology will get better (so stop whining and get on board…)."The MLI was also concerned that the new regulations ignore the need for coordination between the provinces and between Canada and the US.Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said he would cancel the EV mandate should his party form government.On July 6, 2021, Poilievre discussed electric vehicles of early Greenpeace member and Canadian Patrick Moore, whom David Suzuki once called "the Judas of the environmental movement."In How green are electric cars? since viewed 386,000 times, Poilievre pointed to estimates from the International Energy Agency."Congo and People's Republic of China are responsible for 70% and 60% of global production of cobalt and rare earth elements respectively in 2019. The level of concentration is even higher for processing operations, where China has a strong presence across the board," Poilievre commented."China's share of refining is around 35% of nickel, 50 to 70% for lithium (which you need for batteries) and cobalt, and nearly 90% for the rare earth elements. So by subsidizing the battery powered vehicle, are we effectively driving more production to China?"Moore replied, "The short answer is yes, unavoidably because we don't have the capacity outside of China for either the mining or...the refining...We sort of chased those industries out of the North American continent and China eagerly embraced the mining."Moore added that recent precedents in northern Quebec showed it was hard to get rare earth mines operational in Canada. Poilievre couldn't argue with that."We have some of the most slow and cumbersome processes to even get the government out of the way and let construction begin," Poilievre said."But China powers many of its industrial and mining activities with coal fired electricity. In other words, we increase global emissions of greenhouse gases whenever we drive more production to China."Poilievre questioned whether the life-cycle of emissions were actually less with electric vehicles.Moore said, "The really honest scientific answer is we don't know. So the slogan that that reduces emissions is actually not knowable."Poilievre probed the issue further with a question."if the mining of the minerals that go into the vehicle emits far greater greenhouse gases than are saved by having that vehicle on the road than it is a counterproductive subsidy. Would you in a word agree with that?"Moore replied, "Absolutely. It's profoundly counterproductive."
A major Canadian think tank has come out swinging against Ottawa's newly announced ban on gas and diesel vehicles.Canada’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Steven Guilbeault, recently announced an electric vehicle mandate that will restrict and then prohibit the sale of non-ZEV (zero-emissions vehicles) by 2035.This news, just days before Christmas, was unwelcome to the Macdonald-Laurier Institute. The Ottawa-based think tank responded by putting a carbon-filled lump of coal in the Liberal government's stocking."With just a handful of days left in 2023, the government couldn’t help but introduce one more unrealistic and counterproductive climate policy," the MLI said in a press release.MLI Director of Energy, Natural Resources, and Environment, Heather Exner-Pirot, said the government may have closed 2023 with its most Communist measure yet.“Of all the Soviet-style, top-down, market-defying policies they have implemented this year, this may be the most egregious," she said.The think tank said the new regulations were "terrible" because they ignored the total emissions throughout production, use, and disposal of the vehicle."They explicitly privilege EV [electric vehicle] technology but disregard broader environmental considerations," the MLI explained."An electric vehicle like the Ford F-150 Lightning will still be able to be sold in Canada in 2035, but a Honda Civic with an internal combustion engine will be banned – this fails to consider the life-cycle emissions."MLI also finds the mandate impractical."The new regulations also ignore the reality that many Canadians (renters, those living in apartment buildings/condos or in rural areas) won’t likely be able to charge at home. There are massive logistical and cost barriers to the adoption of EVs for many (if not most) Canadians," MLI said."Living up north where extreme cold can affect the performance of EV batteries? The Government acknowledges your concern but is blindly confident that the technology will get better (so stop whining and get on board…)."The MLI was also concerned that the new regulations ignore the need for coordination between the provinces and between Canada and the US.Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said he would cancel the EV mandate should his party form government.On July 6, 2021, Poilievre discussed electric vehicles of early Greenpeace member and Canadian Patrick Moore, whom David Suzuki once called "the Judas of the environmental movement."In How green are electric cars? since viewed 386,000 times, Poilievre pointed to estimates from the International Energy Agency."Congo and People's Republic of China are responsible for 70% and 60% of global production of cobalt and rare earth elements respectively in 2019. The level of concentration is even higher for processing operations, where China has a strong presence across the board," Poilievre commented."China's share of refining is around 35% of nickel, 50 to 70% for lithium (which you need for batteries) and cobalt, and nearly 90% for the rare earth elements. So by subsidizing the battery powered vehicle, are we effectively driving more production to China?"Moore replied, "The short answer is yes, unavoidably because we don't have the capacity outside of China for either the mining or...the refining...We sort of chased those industries out of the North American continent and China eagerly embraced the mining."Moore added that recent precedents in northern Quebec showed it was hard to get rare earth mines operational in Canada. Poilievre couldn't argue with that."We have some of the most slow and cumbersome processes to even get the government out of the way and let construction begin," Poilievre said."But China powers many of its industrial and mining activities with coal fired electricity. In other words, we increase global emissions of greenhouse gases whenever we drive more production to China."Poilievre questioned whether the life-cycle of emissions were actually less with electric vehicles.Moore said, "The really honest scientific answer is we don't know. So the slogan that that reduces emissions is actually not knowable."Poilievre probed the issue further with a question."if the mining of the minerals that go into the vehicle emits far greater greenhouse gases than are saved by having that vehicle on the road than it is a counterproductive subsidy. Would you in a word agree with that?"Moore replied, "Absolutely. It's profoundly counterproductive."
