Ontario is getting ready to hit the brakes on rebates of up to $14,000 for motorists buying electric vehicles like the new Honda Clarity and Chrysler Pacifica hybrid. The purchase incentives, which were established years ago by the recently defeated Liberal government to kick-start a shift to low-emission cars, have been funded in part by the cap-and-trade program the incoming Progressive Conservatives are scrapping. “Doug Ford has been clear that he is cancelling cap and trade and Kathleen Wynne’s climate change action plan,” Jeff Silverstein, spokesman for the premier-designate, said Wednesday when asked about the future of the incentives.Ford’s PC government, the first in 15 years, will be sworn in June 29.No date has been publicly set for a phase-out of the vehicle rebate program, which has come under criticism in some quarters for being one of the most generous in North America. It applies to about 20 electric and hydrogen-fuelled models from 14 automakers such as Tesla, General Motors, BMW and Ford, and was credited with increasing the sale of those vehicles by 120 per cent last year.Revamped in 2016 as part of Premier Wynne’s five-year climate change action plan, the program included subsidies for home-based vehicle charging stations. Since 2010, motorists have shared more than $175 million in vehicle incentives alone, according to the Ministry of Transportation.“I think it’s going to hurt significantly,” Keith Brooks, programs manager at the lobby group Environmental Defence, said of the impending cancellation.“We’re not going to need incentives forever but we need them now,” he added, until automakers can further narrow the price gap between electric-powered vehicles and traditional automobiles. “You have to increase the attractiveness,” Brooks said.Several automakers declined to comment but Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers Association president Mark Nantais said the end of the ...
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