TORONTO — Rachel Doran, Executive Director at Clean Energy Canada, made the following statement in response to Prime Minister Mark Carney’s mandate letter.
“Despite breaking recent tradition with a single mandate letter detailing broad priorities, the federal government’s current focus on building the economy and improving affordability offers clear opportunities and building blocks for a cleaner Canada.
“To truly build one Canadian economy, we must also look beyond our borders to the rest of the world. A recent Clean Energy Canada analysis found that all of Canada’s 10 largest non-US trade partners have net-zero commitments and carbon pricing systems, while roughly half of them apply carbon border adjustments on imports and have domestic EV requirements reshaping their car markets. Investing in our supply chains, while growing and leveraging our clean electricity, will be key to building a more globally competitive, and hence resilient, economy—one more able to stand on its own even next to an occasionally unfriendly giant.
“The prime minister has also highlighted bringing down costs for Canadians and helping them get ahead as another key priority for his government. After housing, transportation is the highest-spending category for Canadian households, with a chunk of those costs going to pay for polluting fossil fuels. Six in 10 Canadians recognize that an EV will ultimately cost them less in the long run, in many cases as much as roughly $30,000 over a decade of ownership. But bringing back incentives is still key to bridge the higher upfront cost that many Canadians otherwise struggle with.
“As Canada embarks on a generational housing build-out, we must also ensure the homes we build are EV-ready, equipped with heat pumps, and sustainably constructed. Doing so will mean they are built not only to be affordable on day one—but affordable to live in each and every month. In doing so, we can simultaneously catalyze public-private cooperation, prioritize lower-carbon Canadian materials and build a modern housing industry that drives innovative sectoral growth and good jobs across the country.”
“In delivering on their shared mandate, all ministers should consider how to seize the country’s abundant and realizable opportunities in the clean economy—opportunities that can create lasting energy security and affordability for all Canadians.”
