REACTION: The review of the electric vehicle mandate must result in its repeal, says the MEI

• The spending required to upgrade the country’s electricity grids could hit $294 billion.

Montreal, September 5, 2025 – The federal government should abandon its goal of prohibiting the sale of conventional vehicles by 2035, says the MEI in reaction to Prime Minister Mark Carney’s announcement earlier today regarding the suspension of this mandate for 2026.

“Prime Minister Carney has finally realized what Canadians have known for some time: banning the sale of conventional vehicles by 2035 is unrealistic,” explains Renaud Brossard, Vice President of Communications at the MEI. “Instead of trying to salvage this bad public policy, Ottawa should respect the choices of Canadian consumers and rescind the prohibition on the sale of gas-powered vehicles.”

In June, electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles accounted for just 7.9 per cent of vehicle sales in Canada.

In 2023, the federal government set targets aiming to gradually eliminate the sale of new gas-powered vehicles by 2035. To get there, as of 2026, 20 per cent of vehicles sold were to be electric or plug-in hybrid.

This morning, the prime minister announced that this mandate would be reviewed and its application suspended for 2026.

In February, the MEI warned that the provincial electricity grids had neither the capacity nor the power to provide the energy needed to electrify the vehicle fleet. According to the Institute, the spending required to upgrade these grids could reach $294 billion.

“Not only are Canadians less enthusiastic than Ottawa about electric vehicles, but our electricity grids simply do not have the capacity to absorb all of this extra energy demand,” explains Mr. Brossard. “The government needs to use the review of this mandate to repeal it and let consumers, not governments, set the pace of electric vehicle adoption.”

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The MEI is an independent public policy think tank with offices in Montreal, Ottawa, and Calgary. Through its publications, media appearances, and advisory services to policymakers, the MEI stimulates public policy debate and reforms based on sound economics and entrepreneurship.

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Renaud Brossard
Vice President, Communications
Cell: 514-743-2883