Ontario's new government kills EV rebates, lowers gas prices

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Ontario’s new government officially ended the province’s cap-and-trade “carbon tax” program July 2, killing off by proxy the electric vehicle rebate program funded by it and lifting a 4.3-percent tax on gasoline.

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“Every cent spent from the cap-and-trade slush fund is money that has been taken out of the pockets of Ontario families and businesses,” Automotive News Canada quoted Doug Ford, the province’s new premier, from a news release.

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“We believe that this money belongs back in the pockets of people. Cancelling the cap-and-trade carbon tax will result in lower prices at the gas pump, on your home heating bills and on virtually every other product that you buy.”

The province’s Electric and Hydrogen Vehicle Incentive Program (EHVIP) was completely funded by the cap-and-trade program, but the spokesperson for the Ministry of Transportation (MTO) would not confirm its demise despite the Ford government declaring all affiliated programs would go through an “orderly wind-down.”

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“As the premier has noted, the cap-and-trade program is ending,” the MTO’s said. “We will work with the government to determine next steps with respect to MTO programs funded from cap-and-trade proceeds.”

The executive director of Ontario’s Trillium Automobile Dealers Association (TADA) of new-vehicle dealers, Tood Bourgon, told News that while they would “prefer the program continue for several more years,” the group always understood that the EHVIP was a temporary program.

The cap-and-trade program was funded by the sale of permits to corporations emitting higher-than-acceptable levels of greenhouse gases, as well as by a tax on gasoline; it netted roughly $1.9 billion for the province annually.

The EHVIP program funded by it – and implemented by Ontario’s Liberals during their tenure in power – saw buyers of new electric cars worth less than $75,000 receive a rebate on the vehicle of somewhere between $5,000 and $14,000 depending on model.