In ten years you won’t be allowed to buy a new, gasoline-powered vehicle in our country. Sorry, but that’s the law.
Except you will be able to buy one. Confused? Can’t blame you. But the fog begins to lift when realizing the federal Liberals are involved in this malarkey. It’s because the Grits have successfully turned today’s legislation into nothing more than tomorrow’s electioneering gimmick.
If anything touches the public mood the Liberals scurry like crazed squirrels crossing a busy highway to pass some corresponding legislation and then ride a wave of resulting support. In this case it’s forcing Canadians to buy electric vehicles - a popular green energy measure today.
Ah, but what if such support fades? No problem. Poof: out goes the law, thrown aside like a pair of old slippers, no longer fit for purpose. Take the national carbon tax; a similar green levy introduced six years ago by Justin Trudeau and his acolytes. They ceremoniously slapped it atop our heating, lighting and transportation bills with the fervor of a ne’er-do-well finally discovering Jesus.
Speaking of Jesus: the fellow picked to lead this carbon tax charge was none other than Trudeau’s buddy, Steve Guilbeault, a saintly Greenpeace environmentalist, once venerated as the Green Saviour of Montreal. Heck, in his eco-warrior days he’d scaled tall buildings, such as Toronto’s CN Tower, to protest our big carbon footprints. He even turned up atop Ralph Klein’s roof, for heaven’s sake.
So, who else would the Liberals pick as environment minister? The Earth was burning and, by golly, Guilbeault and his fellow Grits would be our global firemen.
But then Trudeau fell from grace. And that Wall Street banker Mark Carney filled those shoes - though not the socks. Out went that carbon tax nonsense once it became clear that unpopular levy would prevent him becoming prime minister. We waited for Guilbeault to furiously storm out of politics. After all, Carney had dumped his life’s mission into the trashcan. How could be stay?
Well, he did and is now Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture. (Is being a hypocrite now part of our national identity?) Yes, the Green Jesus wasn’t so green after all, unless we’re discussing the color of money.
Well, back to the future. We’ll see this same hypocrisy over this gasoline vehicle ban. Ten years is a lifetime in politics, so as we approach 2035 enthusiasm for this buy-EV push will wane and then whither altogether.
First, those hefty subsidies making electric autos cheaper will disappear, as government debt hits its inevitable wall. Similarly, the cost of building a recharging network across this huge and often frozen country will prove mind-numbingly expensive. Also, if electricity powering such vehicles comes from coal or natural gas then it’s hardly a carbon-neutral engine in play. Plus, EVs are heavier and therefore put roads under more stress, lose large slices of range in freezing weather and have batteries that are an environmental nightmare to dispose of.
So, some future Liberal leader, as an election looms, will sincerely declare they’re axing this EVs-are-us law because Canadians are suffering and need relief. Of course, by then the damage will be done. The ‘No-Gas, We’re Canadian’ restriction will have scared away investment, caused havoc across our entire auto-manufacturing industry, while allowing the US, which is currently shelving such vehicle emission restrictions, to prey upon the resulting fallout.
Yet another major Canadian industry - and we aren’t exactly blessed with many – will fall victim to the Liberals’ callous disregard for our country’s well being. Not when it competes with what’s best for their party.
Sadly, such as it’s always been.
