A buyer shopping for a new 2026-model passenger automobile or light truck would no longer face a requirement that zero-emission vehicles make up at least 20 percent of those offered for sale. The proposed Regulations Amending the Passenger Automobile and Light Truck Greenhouse Gas Emission Regulations, published in the Canada Gazette, Part I, on August 15, 2026, would repeal those requirements entirely.
The current rules, known as the Electric Vehicle Availability Standard, set progressive targets: at least 20 percent of new model year 2026 light-duty vehicles offered for sale must be zero-emission, rising to 60 percent for model year 2030 and 100 percent for model year 2035 and beyond. The proposed amendments would remove those provisions. They would also make administrative changes so the Canadian regulations can continue operating after the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s final rule repealing all vehicle greenhouse gas emission performance standards.
The stated rationale and the Automotive Strategy
The Regulatory Impact Analysis Statement explains that the zero-emission vehicle requirements would place financial pressure on automakers facing changing market and trade conditions in the North American market. Those conditions could make compliance challenging and put the domestic automotive manufacturing sector and vehicle supply in Canada at risk. On February 5, 2026, the Prime Minister announced Canada’s Automotive Strategy to support the industry. The statement describes the repeal as a necessary initial step toward a revised regulatory approach that drives greenhouse gas emission reductions in a technology-neutral manner while giving the Canadian automotive industry flexibility during significant economic uncertainty.
The zero-emission vehicle requirements begin with the 2026 model year. Removing them now, the statement says, would provide regulatory certainty while the government develops enhanced greenhouse gas emission standards aimed at a goal of 75 percent electric vehicle sales by 2035 and 90 percent by 2040, as set out in the Automotive Strategy. The strategy also includes measures to accelerate investment in Canada’s auto manufacturing sector, reintroduce purchase incentives, and enhance the national electric vehicle charging network.
Zero-emission vehicle sales in Canada had already declined from about 14 percent in 2024 to about 9 percent in 2025. The Incentives for Zero-Emission Vehicles program had ended. The United States had reversed federal support for electric vehicles and imposed high tariffs on production inputs such as steel and aluminum.
Documented costs and benefits
The cost-benefit statement estimates that the repeal would result in fewer zero-emission vehicles on the market and fewer purchased in Canada than under the existing standard. Vehicle purchasers would avoid the higher upfront cost of a zero-emission vehicle and the associated cost of installing an at-home charging unit. Those avoided costs are estimated at $57.6 billion from 2026 to 2050. The same consumers would forgo fuel savings estimated at $53.8 billion over the same period. Forgone vehicle maintenance savings were not monetized.
The proposed amendments are also expected to result in net forgone greenhouse gas emission reductions of 326 megatonnes, valued at $94.2 billion in potential climate change-induced global damages, for a total net cost of $90.3 billion. The statement notes that any reduction in the risk of job losses in the Canadian auto sector needs to be considered when evaluating the costs and benefits.
The Canadian automotive sector contributed approximately $16.8 billion to national gross domestic product in 2024. It directly employs over 125,000 people and supports roughly 500,000 jobs in total, including parts suppliers and dealership networks. Between 2007 and 2009 the industry lost 43,500 jobs, a 28.5 percent decline, during the global financial crisis.
Transportation accounted for 28 percent of total Canadian greenhouse gas emissions in 2024. The statement presents the overall government goal of 90 percent electric vehicle sales in 2040 as potentially achieving approximately 145 megatonnes of greenhouse gas emission reductions by 2050 compared with a scenario in which the zero-emission vehicle requirements are repealed and greenhouse gas emission standards remain at 2026 levels. Exact reductions from future standards would be assessed in a later analysis.
Administrative continuity and next steps
Because the United States has repealed its vehicle greenhouse gas standards, the Canadian regulations require updates to references. The proposed amendments would define the Code of Federal Regulations as the version that read on June 18, 2024, unless otherwise provided. Other minor administrative amendments would also be made. The definition of zero-emission vehicle would be repealed, and related provisions would be removed.
Any person may, within 75 days after the date of publication, file comments with the Minister of the Environment. Within 60 days, a person may file a notice of objection requesting that a board of review be established. Comments are strongly encouraged through the online feature on the Canada Gazette website. The proposed regulations would come into force on the day they are registered.
The record shows a regulatory framework written in 2023 encountering market conditions that the government now describes as unanticipated. The proposed repeal removes the near-term sales mandates while the government states its intention to pursue higher long-term electric vehicle sales targets through a different set of standards.
We read the Gazette so you do not have to. Primary records, calmly, without spin.
Source Documents
Government of Canada. (2026, August 15). Regulations Amending the Passenger Automobile and Light Truck Greenhouse Gas Emission Regulations. Canada Gazette, Part I, Vol. 160, No. 33, pp. 2219-2272.
This is one of the things I disagree with our government on. North American auto makers faffed around for years either not taking these requirements seriously or expecting that lobbying and delay would result in this very action. There is absolutely a need to cut back on GHGs and part of that is by reducing automobile emissions. If China can support building the infrastructure to charge electric automobiles and support building ZEVs, why can't we. Yes the American auto builders build lots of vehicles in Canada, supporting lots of jobs, but they are not Canadian companies. The parts builders will still be needed whether the vehicles are ICE or ZEV, so we should be doing something to encourage a Canadian automaker. Heck, even Vietnam is exporting ZEVs to us and I understand they are very good ones, even if a bit expensive for my taste.
Even if one accepts the flawed premise that CO2 is anything other than plant food, using the coercive power of the gubbermint to force the sales of EVs is not consistent with the principles of a mixed market economy, let alone a free market economy. You know who controls what you can and cannot buy? Authoritarian regimes like socialist and communist gubbermints.
Canada has massive boreal forests which consume and sequester CO2; the trees consume more than our population produces. We are already past NetZero... but the Liberals aren't satisfied because green communism is the goal, not NetZero.
Yes, the climate is changing because Earth's environment is massive and dynamic. Man's influence on the Earth's climate is so small as to be within the margin of error. Precisely ZERO of Al Gore's dire predictions have come true. And yet we have screaming activists running around pretending the sky is falling.
The truth is coming out about the insanity of the WEF and other transnational organizations trying to bring about global green communism. Subject matter experts like Bjørn Lomborg, Will Happer, and Steven Koonin are breaking through the "Official Narrative" but until a whole lotta people dig their heads outta their asses long enough to realize it, we'll be putting up with the "Save Gaia" nonsense and it's all just so tiresome.