Juno News - Poilievre has warned that the EV mandate would cost at least $300 billion in grid upgrades

In this episode, I'm joined by Conservative candidate Pierre Polyev, who is running for a seat in the upcoming Battle River-Crowfoot by-election, to talk about his opposition to Ontario's plan to mandate electric vehicles (EVs) across the province.

00:00:00.000 This is Conservative leader Pierre Polyev who is of course running for the seat in Battle River

00:00:06.480 Crowfoot which is just up the road from me. His by-election is today and he was asked about this

00:00:12.800 EV mandate and I wanted us to listen to it together so let's roll it. There's not even

00:00:17.680 the electrical infrastructure it would cost 300 billion dollars to put in place the electrical

00:00:25.600 charging stations and transmission networks to actually do that which would be thousands of

00:00:31.280 dollars of costs in higher taxes and prices for consumers for every single family

00:00:38.080 and not only would it eliminate rural communities it would eliminate our auto sector

00:00:44.880 wanted to know what you thought about that last part there which i found interesting because of

00:00:49.040 course ontario premier doug ford just finished chatting with prime minister mark carney and

00:00:55.280 interesting what poly have said there is that this would really hurt canada's auto industry

00:01:01.520 there's so much to unpack here when it comes to this mandate saying that you must own a battery

00:01:06.240 powered car and they want to phase out a gas and diesel where do you want to go with this

00:01:11.600 well it's bad for consumers obviously it's uh we it's going to hit everyone's pocketbooks we can't

00:01:16.640 afford and you guys know what the canadian tax periods federation just how serious the

00:01:20.720 debt situation is in this country it's far worse than 1997 when we panicked no one knows that yet

00:01:26.320 but for the automotive sector it is truly the death knell and you know chris i'm not talking

00:01:30.320 through my hat here i served as a media relations officer for toyota canada before i was elected as

00:01:34.080 an mp i know what's going to happen when five of the biggest companies plus a six in mercedes is

00:01:39.680 now saying we just can't proceed with this kind of uh with this kind of agenda over this timeline

00:01:45.760 It seems pretty clear to me that if the auto manufacturers are going to be ignored and consumers are going to be ignored, there really isn't much left for the federal liberals and their friends of the NDP and the bloc to stand on.

00:01:57.560 This is a policy that is going to dramatically impact our economic outlook.

00:02:03.340 And now with the United States, forget the terrorists, having not gone down the road of EV mandates, 90% of the vehicles that we make in Ontario, I'm looking right now from where I can see the Ford plant smokestacks.

00:02:13.320 you know we're not going to be able to sell our vehicles if we all put we have evs america's

00:02:17.780 aren't going to buy them anymore and frankly we shouldn't be going that route either you mentioned

00:02:22.520 not talking through your hat i just wanted to back up what pierre polyev was saying there in

00:02:26.680 his clip he's not talking through his hat either when it comes to the 300 billion dollar price tag

00:02:31.380 what he was referencing there was a report that is posted on the government of canada website

00:02:38.140 Natural Resources Canada says it's going to cost us upwards of $300 billion with a B to transition over to battery powered vehicles.

Juno News - August 18, 2025

Poilievre has warned that the EV mandate would cost at least $300 billion in grid upgrades

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