A rumor spread like wildfire in certain corners of Canadian politics a few weeks ago: was the federal government preparing to introduce a surtax on large vehicles such as pickup ? Sacrilege!
This all happened following the tabling of a recommendation by an advisory group advising the federal government to help it achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. We repeat, we are talking about a recommendation here.
The rumor machine in some circles then quickly got carried away. Suddenly, this recommendation became government policy. It was enough for the usual champions of all-car and fossil fuels to seize on it to create indignation in order to prevent better control of GHG emissions from the transport sector. .
There is nothing very surprising in this kind of media swelling on this very particular subject. However, it is laughable when you look at the situation in the face: never have large vehicles had so much of the upper hand in Canada.
Far from the goal
We must collectively recognize the reality: the auto industry is making greater profits by selling gas-powered vehicles that are both larger and more fuel-efficient, and it is not sending a signal that things will change soon.
In 2020, light trucks were featured in 79% of industry advertisements. In 2021, the proportion of sales of these same vehicles was 80%.
This is why this industry and its allies create indignation as soon as a potential pitfall to the status quo looms on the horizon or an awareness campaign challenges the dictates of their advertising.
Our governments must rise above the fray on this issue: a significant part of our GHG problem in the transport sector stems from this “trucking” of the vehicle fleet and threatens our climate targets as much as our electrification. And that’s without counting the documented impacts of these large vehicles on the safety of the most vulnerable road users (such as children, pedestrians or cyclists) and household finances.
With regard to the electric shift that the industry or the government often uses to clear customs, a recent report commissioned by Équiterre and the David Suzuki Foundation shows that the current measures — which include subsidies for the purchase of zero-emission vehicles , investments in charging infrastructure, vehicle energy efficiency standards, but above all the goodwill of the industry — will not allow us to achieve our vehicle electrification objectives.
In fact, only 38% of new vehicles sold in 2035 would be zero emissions by maintaining the said status quo!
Disappointing reaction
Faced with this worrying state of affairs, we therefore need an intelligent debate and an adequate political response. To this effect, the reaction of the governments in Quebec and Ottawa is disappointing. They are depriving themselves of regulatory and fiscal tools to tackle the immediate consequences of the proliferation of light gasoline trucks on our roads and hope that their electrification strategy based on the revenue from these same vehicles will do all the work.
However, a proven eco-taxation measure such as a surcharge on more polluting vehicles could be used to finance the purchase of less energy-consuming vehicles, while sparing all taxpayers.
Until governments put in place stricter policies that are compatible with achieving our climate targets, the auto industry will continue to send more electric vehicles to countries that have tightened the screws.
And back home, with a smile on their face, manufacturers will continue to offer us, with hundreds of millions of dollars in advertising, ever bigger and more energy-consuming vehicles that venture into rivers and forests, with the negative consequences that we know about climate, health, safety, land use planning and citizens’ portfolios.