Quebec not ruling out pushing back the 2035 deadline on electric vehicles

Quebec could push its target of banning the sale of new gas-powered vehicles from 2035 because of the uncertainty caused by US President Donald Trump.

Quebec could push back its target of banning the sale of new gas-powered vehicles from 2035 because of the uncertainty caused by US President Donald Trump, who is threatening to put the brakes on the electric car market.

Environment Minister Benoit Charette hinted at the possibility during a news scrum at the National Assembly on Wednesday. He indicated that he would review Quebec’s regulations at the beginning of 2026.

The minister said that Quebec is not “alone on its island.”

“It is a continent and a highly integrated economy, that of Quebec and North America,” he said. “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.”

Earlier in the morning, Québec Solidaire (QS) urged the Minister to go ahead and ban the sale of gas vehicles from 2035, come what may.

QS transport spokesman Etienne Grandmont suggested that Quebec should look to other markets, including China, to ensure the deadline was met.

“We need to look at all the options available to Quebec and Canada, so this is an option that should be evaluated,” he pleaded at the news briefing.

The Parti Québécois thinks it is “premature” to think about getting into bed with China to achieve our transport 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, who condemned the Legault government’s decision to slash the “Go Green” program.

Under the program, buyers of electric vehicles received subsidies ranging from $3,500 to $7,500.

Arseneau said he feared that Charette was using Trump as a “useful excuse to start making a U-turn or postponing the targets he has set himself.”

“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 said.

Chinese products “pose a challenge,” agreed Charette: “From an environmental point of view, these products are more difficult to recycle. It also jeopardizes jobs on the Canadian and American sides,” he pointed out.

“When I hear the opposition mobilizing against a possible revision, I say to them: ‘You have to take note of the changing reality,’” he added.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Jan. 29, 2025.