Quebec not ruling out extending 2035 deadline for electric vehicles

An electric car is seen charging. (Angus Mordant/Bloomberg)

Quebec may miss its goal of banning the sale of new gas-powered vehicles as early as 2035 due to the uncertainty caused by U.S. President Donald Trump.

“Mr. Trump mentioned that he was less interested than Elon Musk in the development of electric cars,” Premier Quebec François Legault pointed out on Wednesday during a visit to Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean.

“We’re going to take a look at what the three big American automakers are doing (...) We continue to want to move as quickly as possible to electric cars,” he added.

Given the uncertainty, Quebec Environment Minister Benoit Charette said he could not rule out pushing back the 2035 target.

A review of Quebec’s regulations is scheduled for 2026.

In a press scrum at the National Assembly on Wednesday, Charette reiterated that Quebec is not “alone on the island” and its economy is “highly integrated” with North America.

“If Quebec isolates itself, it doesn’t have enough buying power to dictate the market on its own, but we are in contact with California, British Columbia and other states,” he said.

Nevertheless, Québec Solidaire (QS) is urging Charette to maintain his target no matter what, as the transportation sector emits 43 per cent of annual greenhouse gas emissions.

QS transport critic Étienne Grandmont suggests that Quebec look to other markets, including China, to ensure the deadline is met.

“We have to look at all the options available to Quebec and Canada. So, it’s an option we should evaluate,” he said.

However, the Parti Québécois (PQ) argues it’s “premature” to think about hobnobbing with China to achieve the province’s transportation electrification objectives.

Quebec must first promote the purchase of electric vehicles “that are available on the market here in Quebec”, argued PQ MNA Joël Arseneau.

“The issue of Chinese cars, manufactured at low cost and through a mechanism akin to ‘dumping,’ coming to invade the Quebec market, I don’t think we’re there yet,” he asserted.

He denounced the Legault government’s decision to slash the “Roulez vert” program, which provided electric vehicle buyers with subsidies ranging from $3,500 to $7,500.

The 2035 objective must be “maintained,” agreed Marc Tanguay, interim leader of the Quebec Liberal Party (PLQ), on Wednesday, adding, “It’s not by cutting ‘Roulez vert’ that we’ll get there.”

Arseneau says he fears that Charette could use Donald Trump as a “useful pretext to be able to start making a U-turn or postponing the targets he set himself.”

“When I hear the opposition mobilize against a possible revision, I tell them: ‘You have to take note of the changing reality,’” retorted Charette in a press scrum.

He said he also believes that Chinese products “pose a challenge.”

“From an environmental point of view, these products are harder to recycle. It also jeopardizes jobs on the Canadian and American side,” he said.

“What we want is to be partners with the United States,” Legault later insisted.

For his part, Quebec Conservative Party (PCQ) Leader Éric Duhaime said Quebec should abandon its 2035 target.

“It’s not up to the Quebec government to determine which vehicles people will use,” said the instigator of the ‘Mon char, mon choix’ (My car, my choice) movement on Radio-Canada.

-- This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Jan. 30, 2024.