Electric vehicles: Quebec considers pushing back 2035 deadline

By The Canadian Press

Quebec could miss its goal of banning the sale of new gasoline vehicles as early as 2035 due to the uncertainty caused by U.S. President Donald Trump, who threatens to slow down the electric car market.

This is what Environment Minister Benoit Charette told reporters Wednesday at the National Assembly. He indicated that he will review Quebec’s regulations in early 2026.

Because Quebec is not “alone on its island,” the minister warned. “It is a continent and an economy that is very integrated, that of Quebec and North America,” he recalled.

“If Quebec isolates itself, it does not have enough purchasing power to dictate the market on its own. But we are in contact with California, British Columbia and other states.”

Earlier Wednesday morning, Québec solidaire (QS) had urged the minister to move forward and ban the sale of gasoline-powered vehicles as early as 2035, no matter what.

The QS spokesperson for transportation, Etienne Grandmont, suggested that Quebec look to other markets, including China, to ensure the deadline is met.

“We need to look at all the options available to Quebec and Canada. So, this is an option that we should evaluate,” Grandmont argued.

According to the Parti Québécois, it is “premature” to think about cozying up to China to achieve the province’s transportation electrification goals.

Quebec must first promote the purchase of electric vehicles “that are available on the market here in Quebec,” said PQ MNA Joël Arseneau, who denounced the Legault government’s decision to cut the “Roulez vert” program.

Thanks to this program, buyers of electric vehicles received a subsidy ranging from $3,500 to $7,500.

Arseneau said he feared Minister Charette would use Trump as a “useful pretext to be able to start making a change or to postpone the targets that he himself set.”

“The issue of Chinese cars, manufactured at low cost and through a mechanism that is similar to ‘dumping,’ invading the Quebec market, I don’t think we’re there yet,” Arseneau said.

Chinese products “pose a challenge,” agreed Charette. “From an environmental point of view, these are products that are more difficult to recycle. It also compromises jobs on the Canadian and American sides.”

“When I hear the opposition mobilizing against a possible revision, I tell them: ‘We must take note of the changing reality.’”

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews

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