Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced on Wednesday that he has contacted the premiers of Québec and British Columbia, urging both provinces to scrap their EV sales mandates.
The letters arrive as Canada’s auto policy landscape faces mounting pressure from both external and internal forces.
These include the US-Canada tariff war, which has forced Ottawa to restructure its trade policy and led automakers to scale back production.
Additionally, an upcoming federal election campaign is intensifying debate over industrial strategy — with the Conservatives unveiling their own “auto pact” proposal over the weekend.
Ford has been a vocal critic of the Carney government’s broader auto plan, announced last February.
The Ontario representative is particularly against the agreement signed with China in January that allows an annual quota of 49,000 Chinese-made EVs into the country at a reduced tariff.
In the letters, however, the Premier is leveraging the federal government’s decision to repeal the Electric Vehicle Availability Standard — or ‘EV sales mandate,’ originally introduced by former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in late 2023.
EV Mandate
Ford argued that Québec and British Columbia — the only two provinces that still have their own EV sales mandates in place — should follow suit and repeal theirs as well.
According to him, maintaining EV mandates — after the federal government repealed its own — creates a fragmented market that puts the country’s auto sector at a competitive disadvantage against the United States.
“Existing EV sales mandates in Canada are making our auto sector less competitive and threatening the livelihoods of tens of thousands of Canadian workers,” Ford wrote in both letters, dated March 17.
Most of Canada’s auto industry is located in Ontario.
Ford wrote that the province’s auto sector employs nearly 100,000 people and contributes $13.3 billion annually to the national economy.
Interprovincial Support
Ford framed the request as a matter of interprovincial solidarity at a time of escalating trade tensions with the United States.
“As workers, families and businesses across Canada face down the impact of U.S. tariffs, I know we are united in our efforts to do everything we can to protect Canadian workers and their jobs,” he wrote in both letters.
To Québec’s Premier François Legault, Ford pledged Ontario’s support on “standing up to tariffs” on key industries, such as steel, aluminum, and softwood lumber/forestry sectors.
He offered a similar backing to British Columbia’s Premier David Eby.
In return, Ford asked both premiers to back Ontario’s auto workers, whose “jobs and paycheques are under direct attack from US tariffs.”
Québec
In his letter to Québec’s Legault, Ford acknowledged that the province has already softened its approach.
He said he recognises that the province has taken “steps to adapt,” including “partially lifting the 2035 ban on new gas-powered vehicles and updating its zero-emission vehicle sales targets to reflect the slower-than-expected adoption of EVs.”
However, the Ontario Premier called those moves insufficient.
“Given the federal government’s decision to repeal its EV mandate, I am calling on Québec to take the next step by fully repealing its own mandate,” he wrote.
British Columbia
The letter to Premier David Eby was more direct.
Ford urged Eby to “repeal British Columbia’s EV sales mandate, which will directly limit the number of Canadian-made internal combustion engine vehicles that can be sold in your province.”
Ford noted that BC had previously “called for one harmonized EV sales target for the country.”
Therefore, Eby should “align British Columbia’s approach with that of the federal government’s new direction by repealing your province’s EV sales mandates altogether.”
Ford on EVs
In both letters, Ford stressed that his push to eliminate mandates should not be read as hostility toward electrification.
“Ontario remains committed to supporting EVs,” he wrote, citing plans to unlock “critical minerals,” support the steel sector, and “build a secure, domestic, end-to-end EV vehicle supply chain.”
In BC’s letter specifically, Ford also referenced the “$46 billion in EV battery manufacturing investments” Ontario has attracted, reinforcing that his opposition to the mandates is not an opposition to electric vehicles themselves.
Ford closed both letters with a call for policy alignment across provinces, which would send “a clear message that Canada is united in supporting our workers, strengthening our manufacturing sectors and keeping auto jobs in Canada.”
EVs in Auto Strategy
Early last year, then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced he would step down after nine years in office, following growing pressure from within his own party.
Mark Carney succeeded him as Liberal leader and was elected Prime Minister exactly a year ago.
In September, Carney suspended the Electric Vehicle Availability Standard — the federal EV sales mandate Trudeau had introduced in late 2023 — as part of a broader package of measures designed to help the auto sector navigate the impact of US tariffs.
Upon unveiling his new national auto strategy in February, Carney confirmed the mandate had been permanently repealed.
One of the measures replacing it was a five-year EV Affordability Program — also being referred to as the ‘EV rebate’ — to lower the cost of EVs, alongside revised zero-emission targets.
The Government is investing C$2.3 billion to offer Canadian consumers incentives of C$5,000 on both battery and fuel electric vehicles, plus C$2,500 for plug-in hybrids.
Carney’s team aims to comply with an adjusted goal of 75% of all new vehicles being electric by 2035 and 90% by 2040.
The previous target required 20% of zero-emission vehicle sales by 2026, progressing towards 100% in 2035.
