“It’s lunacy. Straight-up lunacy.” Read More
’Straight-up lunacy.’ That’s how the Alberta government sees the Carney government’s take on electric vehicles
‘Straight-up lunacy.’ That’s how the Alberta government sees the Carney government’s take on electric vehicles
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“It’s lunacy. Straight-up lunacy.”
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The words come from Devin Dreeshen, the Alberta government’s point man on transportation.
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He has nothing against electric vehicles, EVs for short. You want one, buy one.
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He just doesn’t think the government in Ottawa should be ramming the purchase of them down people’s throats.
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Full disclosure. Dreeshen drives a RAM 1500 and isn’t apologizing to Liberals for doing so.
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Oh, the Liberals. Oh, how they like to tell us how to live.
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Noon News Roundup
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Within five years, six out of ten new vehicles must be electric.
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Within ten years, all new vehicles must be electric.
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Dreeshen has plenty to say. On Friday, he fired off a letter to Chrystia Freeland, Prime Minister Mark Carney’s minister of transport.
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Freeland was in Calgary this week and, as my last column pointed out, she said the Carney Liberals love Alberta.
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We will see how that works out and we will get to that letter in a minute.
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“The reason why the Liberals don’t reverse this policy is unfathomable. I just don’t understand it.” says Dreeshen.
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“For ridiculous things like this, where’s there is no obvious logic behind it, I think it would have to be just pure partisan Liberal politics where they think this somehow appeals to their base, where they can score political points with their base.
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“But it damages and it hurts Canadians and that’s where the Liberals, I hope, would be able to look past their partisanship to do what’s right for the country.”
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The Smith government transportation minister speaks of freedom of choice for people “to buy a vehicle they actually want versus the government forcing them to buy a vehicle they don’t want.”
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He talks of the market for EVs not exactly setting the world on fire. He talks of the effect Liberal lunacy could have on Canada’s auto industry.
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“It’s a little unnerving they haven’t reversed this policy,” he says.
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What’s the problem?
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Dumping the policy is easy. Just announce it.
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Low-hanging fruit, no heavy-lifting, a gift from the political gods.
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If Carney could make the carbon tax go away just like that, getting rid of the Liberal EV fantasy is child’s play.
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Ooops … I forgot. The carbon tax was to score votes before election day. The election is over.