New EV rebate program in the works, environment minister says

By Canadian Press on June 17, 2025.

OTTAWA — Environment Minister Julie Dabrusin tells The Canadian Press the government will bring back a consumer rebate program to help make electric vehicles more affordable.

The federal government’s former rebate program for electric vehicles, launched in 2019, was so popular it ran out of funding, leading Ottawa to pause it earlier this year.

Dabrusin also indicated Canada’s electric vehicle mandate — which states all light-duty passenger vehicles sold off the lot must be zero-emissions by 2035 — won’t be changing.

Conservatives spent Tuesday in Ottawa calling for the mandate to be scrapped, citing concerns about an auto sector threatened by U.S. tariffs.

The Liberals ran in the recent federal election on a pitch to encourage Canadians to make greener choices, after Prime Minister Mark Carney cut the consumer carbon tax rate to zero.

In the first four months of this year, around eight per cent of all new vehicles sold in Canada were zero-emissions.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 17, 2025.

Nick Murray, The Canadian Press

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