1 day Ago By The Vancouver Sun
B.C.’s energy minister indicated Tuesday that the government may consider cutting rebates for electric vehicles as part of its efforts to make up for budget shortfalls caused by the elimination of the consumer carbon tax.
While the elimination of B.C.’s longstanding price on pollution succeeded in dropping gas prices across the province, it has also left a $1.
8 billion hole in government revenue used to pay for some of the NDP’s signature climate policies under the CleanBC plan. “That’s one of the CleanBC issues we’re reviewing and we will have more to say about that shortly,” Energy Minister Adrian Dix told reporters at the legislature on Tuesday when asked about whether EV rebates could be eliminated. He did, however, tout the province’s efforts to increase the number of zero-emission vehicles in B.
C. and said there are no plans at this time to change the legislated mandate that all new light-duty vehicles in B.C.
must be zero-emission by 2035. For now, British Columbians can still get up to $4,000 off the cost of a battery-electric or long-range, plug-in hybrid through the rebate, but there have already been significant changes to the program over the past few years. These include the exclusion of anyone making over $100,000 from being eligible for the program, and a reduction in the maximum price a car can be in order to be included in the program from $55,000 to $50,000.
Only those earning $80,000 or less are able to receive the full rebate. The 2025 B.C.
budget also took away a tax break that British Columbians had been able to take advantage of when buying a used electric vehicle. It isn’t just B.C.
that has reduced supports for electric vehicles, with the federal government ending its own rebate program in January. Experts warn that it may not just be the electric vehicle program at risk, but also other CleanBC-related supports such as rebates for heat pumps and home retrofits. Dix said Tuesday that there is no plan to get rid of the heat pump rebate and that he actually expects the province to do more to help British Columbians make their homes more energy efficient.
Premier David Eby, however, explicitly mentioned heat pumps and energy retrofits on Monday when saying the province would look at “restructuring” the CleanBC plan as part of its efforts to make up the budget shortfall from the elimination of the carbon tax. Eby did promise that his government remains committed to its goal of reducing emissions through a continued price on pollution for high-emitting corporations, the low-carbon fuel standard that aims to reduce the carbon intensity of gasoline, and the development of clean power projects. “The bottom line is, climate change is real.
We can see it here in British Columbia with the forest fires, floods and the atmospheric rivers. We have to take action,” said Eby. “We’re also going to recognize the reality that British Columbians can’t be expected to bear all the expense of that.
” Eby didn’t reveal exactly what a restructuring of CleanBC would look like, but the NDP have already committed to starting a review of the plan this year as part of its agreement with the Greens. Evan Pivnick, a program manager for Clean Energy Canada, said the restructuring of CleanBC could provide an opportunity to strengthen some of the programs within its portfolio, but also warned that the one-off cutting of supports could lead down a dangerous path. He said that it wouldn’t just be the province’s efforts to cut emissions that would be impacted by cuts to CleanBC programs, but also affordability as well.
“The deployment of consumer clean technologies is an incredibly important piece in helping drive affordability,” said Pivnick. “We’ve put out significant research that shows just how much families can save on a monthly basis on their energy bills by switching to things like heat pumps and EVs.” A report from Clean Energy Canada released in October 2024 found British Columbians could save $777 a month by switching to an electric car, swapping out gas appliances for electric ones, and installing a heat pump.
Pivnick also said it would make little sense for B.C. to eliminate the electric vehicle rebate program as the money used to pay for it comes from the Low Carbon Fuel Standard, not the consumer carbon tax.
Jessica McIlroy, buildings program manager for the Pembina Institute, said the fact all of CleanBC’s programs remain funded in the 2025 provincial budget gives her hope, but acknowledged the elimination of the carbon tax means all those calculations have changed. “I think there’s always a state of concern and monitoring, because policy decisions and budget decisions can change at any time, and obviously things are very in flux at the moment,” she said. “What we need to continue to focus on is where there’s opportunities for investment that can grow jobs and grow the economy and provide some in-community resilience, and things like retrofitting buildings can do that.
” Green interim leader Jeremy Valeriote agreed with both Pivnick and McIlroy and said that he is hoping to keep much of CleanBC intact when the review of the plan begins later this year, while adding that he is open to dialing down some programs that aren’t having the desired effect. He added that the rebate programs are by no means the only method the province has to combat climate change but are crucial when it comes to making the transition affordable, especially now that the Climate Action Tax Credit is no more. “I don’t think we should be removing any other rebates for people who are trying to manage their own emissions and thinking about tackling climate change,” said Valeriote.
[email protected] Related.
