Most Canadians are against the Trudeau government’s plan to ban new gas-fuelled cars by 2035.
In an attempt to move North America towards Ottawa’s net-zero goal, the Liberal’s zero-emission vehicle standard would ban the sale of personal gas, gas, diesel and hybrid-powered vehicles in just over a decade.
According to a Natural Resources Canada report, the plan, which would necessitate the mass installation of charging infrastructure and upgrades to the electrical grid, is expected to cost taxpayers nearly $300 billion by 2040.
According to a Leger 360 poll commissioned and released by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, Canadians are not on board with the green-powered motion.
The poll asked 1,612 adult Canadians what they thought about the federal government’s plan to ban gas—and diesel-fueled vehicles by 2035. A probability sample of this size yields a margin of error no greater than 2.4% 19 times out of 20.
The majority of Canadians, 59% said they disagree with the national ban on the sale of gas, diesel and hybrid vehicles, and 39% said they “strongly oppose” the ban. While only 29% said they support it.
When excluding those who did not have opinions on the matter, disagreement with the ban rose to 67%, with 45% of those with views saying they were strongly against the vehicle ban.
Nearly three-quarters, 72%, of Rural Canadians said they were against the ban, while the largest contingent of the ban’s supporters came from urban areas in Canada, with 37% of urbanites agreeing with the government’s stance.
The older generations were more likely to oppose the ban. 63% of those aged 35 or older opposed it, while just under half, 47%, of Canadians between 18 and 34 said the same.
“This poll is very clear: Canadians don’t support Trudeau’s ban on new gas and diesel vehicles,” Franco Terrazzano, the federal director of the CTF, told True North. “Trudeau should take this poll as a wake-up call, listen to Canadians and scrap his ban on the sale of new gas and diesel vehicles by 2035.”
As previously reported by True North, the CTF’s 2024 Gas Tax Honesty report found that in some provinces, Canadians would pay more in taxes than gas itself due to other “zero-emissions strategies” employed by the Trudeau government.
In May of this year, representatives of the RCMP expressed concerns about the challenges it faces with the government’s zero-emission plan to switch its fleet to electric by 2035 as well. Police said they were concerned about charging stations being available in rural areas and the energy strain long-distance police chases could put on the vehicles.
A True North report from the same month highlighted a study by the Fraser Institute that found the government’s Net zero goal by 2050 was “highly unlikely” and “impractical.” The study noted that the plan would require spending higher than “any previous long-term peacetime commitments.”
The study found that the “impossible” goal which is purported to be achieved in a single generation would require a mass influx of zero-carbon large-scale commercial manufacturing plants which have yet to be deployed and many developed nations still rely on fossil fuels for things such as cement, iron, plastics and ammonia.
“Canadians want to be able to buy gas minivans and diesel pickups. (They) can’t afford the higher taxes and power bills to pay for all the subsidies, charging stations, power plants and transmission lines,” Terrazzano said. “This ban is half-baked and another Trudeau policy that will make life in Canada more expensive.“
