POLICY WORKS
Ontario’s “Progressive” Conservative government is providing a great case study on the power of policy to address climate change. After being elected in June 2018, Doug Ford’s government eliminated the electric vehicle subsidy which provided Ontarians with up to $14,000 rebate on new purchases. The result? In the first 6 months of 2019, electric vehicle sales plummeted 55% from the same period in 2018. In the second quarter of last year, 2933 electric vehicles were sold in Ontario compared to 7110 in the same period in 2018. Compare this to Quebec and BC, where they still have provincial rebates and electric vehicles sales have skyrocketed. They now represent 7% and 10 % of overall new vehicle sales respectively. These are the policies that will have a great impact on our ability to take action against climate change and ultimately what we are fighting for at POW.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/year-ont-electric-vehicles-1.5397190