17 hours ago
Swift News
Mark Carney's announcement on Friday that implementation of the federal government's zero-emission vehicle mandate will be delayed by at least a year can be read as another retreat on climate policy from the new prime minister.
It can also be read as a small victory for Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, who had been calling on the government to abandon the policy.
That was certainly Poilievre's own reading of events.
"Today he's flip-flopped.… He's finally admitted that the Conservatives were right, just like we were right on the carbon tax," Poilievre told reporters on Parliament Hill.
But, the Conservative leader lamented, it was a "clumsy retreat," because the prime minister was merely promising to "delay" the mandate.
"Mark Carney can't even get his flip-flops right," Poilievre said.
In fact, Carney says the ZEV sales mandate will be subject to a 60-day review. And so, for now, it's not clear whether the mandate — a major policy meant to drive down greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector — is actually dead or merely sleeping.
But deliberations on the mandate, Carney said, will be part of a larger review aimed at designing a new "climate competitiveness" strategy — upon which a lot, both politically and practically is now riding.
