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EDMONTON, Alberta (LifeSiteNews) — Alberta Premier Danielle Smith made it crystal clear that she intends to fight with “everything” at her disposal what she called an “unconstitutional” new federal government mandate that all new cars and trucks by 2035 be electric, which would in effect ban the sale of new gasoline- or diesel- only powered vehicles after that year.
“The Government of Alberta will do everything within its legal jurisdiction to thwart implementation of these unconstitutional regulations in our province,” Smith said in a statement yesterday on the EV mandate that was posted to X (formerly Twitter).
“The sheer hypocrisy of this announcement is astounding. To date, the federal government’s EV approach has been a disaster.”
On Tuesday, Canadian Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault announced the “Electric Vehicle Availability Standard.” This is a plan that will try and mandate more EV or so-called “zero-emission vehicles” (ZEV) sales via increasing targets per year.
Starting in 2026, the federal government will mandate that 20 percent of all new cars or trucks are ZEV. That number will move to 60 percent by 2030 and to 100 percent by 2035. So-called cars that qualify under the new rules are battery electric, plug-in hybrid, or hydrogen fuel cars.
This is not the first time Smith has called out federal EV mandates. Early this year, she blasted what was then a Trudeau government proposal to ban new sales of gas-powered cars after 2035. She called it an attack on her province’s oil and gas industry.
Trudeau’s war on the internal combustion engine comes despite the fact Canada has the third largest oil reserves in the world, which is produced ethically, unlike in other nations.
Electric cars cost thousands more to make and buy, are not suited to Canada’s cold climate, offer poor range and long charging times (especially in cold weather), and have batteries that take tremendous resources to make and are hard to recycle.
A recent report from the Western Standard documents how one Alberta couple found out the hard way that going EV does save not time or money.
Trudeau’s EV mandates have also been called out by the automotive industry in Canada. The Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers’ Association said in response to the new EV mandate that forcing people to buy EVs will “disproportionately impact households living in rural and northern communities that may have lower access to public charging infrastructure.”
“In addition, northern communities are expected to face more difficulties with the transition to EVs due to prolonged periods of cold temperatures that may affect the range of battery-powered electric vehicles.”
Conservative Party of Canada leader Pierre Poilievre said he would overturn Trudeau’s “Draconian” EV mandate should he win the next election and his party form government.
Smith warns power grids won’t be able to handle extra pressure of EVs
Smith noted that when it comes to Trudeau’s EV mandate, “Ottawa is trying to force increased demands on the electricity grid while simultaneously weakening Alberta’s and other provinces’ grids through their federal electricity regulations.”
“Our electric grids are not equipped to handle the massive demand surge that a forced full-scale transition to EVs would need to accommodate the delusional timelines in Ottawa’s regulations, and the federal government has not provided remotely enough financial assistance to assist provincial grids to meet this mandated electricity demand,” she noted.
Smith was clear that while the Alberta government “supports reducing emissions from the transportation sector,” it also supports choice when it comes to what kind of car or truck a person wants to buy.
She said any new rules should be led by “consumers and businesses” and not by government decree.
“The federal government has no legal or moral authority to tell Albertans what vehicles they can and cannot buy,” she said.
“The federal government should rein back its failed command economy tactics and work with us on a consumer-based market approach that is achievable and doesn’t hurt people.”
Smith then took a shot at the Trudeau Liberals and its lack of a plan when it comes to supporting the power grid.
“Not only are there not enough electric vehicle chargers, Ottawa doesn’t even know where EV chargers are needed. The federal government will fail to hit its target even where it has complete discretion, and yet it plans to mandate similar targets on consumers throughout all of Canada,” she said.
“Although it seems rather obvious to say, emissions targets and regulations must be realistic, achievable, and cannot result in multiple severe harms to millions of Canadians. A federal government that can’t transition its own fleet to EVs should not be telling Albertans and Canadians to do what even it is unable to do.”
Since taking office in 2015, Trudeau has continued to push a radical environmental agenda similar to the agendas being pushed the World Economic Forum’s “Great Reset” and the United Nations “Sustainable Development Goals.”
The reduction and eventual elimination of the use of so-called “fossil fuels” and a transition to unreliable “green” energy has also been pushed by the World Economic Forum (WEF) – the globalist group behind the socialist “Great Reset” agenda – an organization in which Trudeau and some of his cabinet are involved.
A June 2017 peer-reviewed study by two scientists and a veteran statistician confirmed that most of the recent global warming data have been “fabricated by climate scientists to make it look more frightening.”
There have been two recent court rulings that have dealt a blow to Trudeau’s environmental laws.
The most recent was the Federal Court of Canada on November 16 overturned the Trudeau government’s ban on single-use plastic, calling it “unreasonable and unconstitutional.”
The second ruling comes after Canada’s Supreme Court recently sided in favor of provincial autonomy when it comes to natural resources. The Supreme Court recently ruled that Trudeau’s law, C-69, dubbed the “no-more pipelines” bill, is “mostly unconstitutional.” This was a huge win for Alberta and Saskatchewan, which challenged the law in court. The decision returned authority over the pipelines to provincial governments, meaning oil and gas projects headed up by the provinces should be allowed to proceed without federal intrusion.
The Trudeau government, however, seems insistent on defying the recent rulings by pushing forward with its various regulations.
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