Manitoba is a climate pariah, EV rebates or not

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 06/07/2024 (462 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba recently announced rebates of $4,000 for new electric vehicles (EVs) and $2,500 for used EVs as long as the MSRP is below $70,000. The policy was immediately attacked by the Manitoba PCs as a subsidy for the wealthy. That criticism drips with irony, as the primary achievement of the Manitoba PCs during seven years in office was… tax cuts for the wealthy.

But before the Manitoba NDP get too giddy congratulating themselves, they should be reminded that at a cost of $6.25 million per year, the EV rebate program is dwarfed by another — their quarter billion-dollar subsidy to gas guzzlers under the gas tax cut.

The gas tax cut featured prominently in the 2024 Manitoba budget where documents showcased the annual savings for drivers of F150-Raptor 4x4s. And what’s the MSRP for one of those? Way over $100,000. Can you say subsidy for the wealthy? The Manitoba PCs, however, liked that policy.

The premier and finance minister defended their decision to make the cheapest gas in the country even cheaper by declaring that it’s popular: people on the street come up to thank them. I’m guessing those weren’t the people who rely on our terrible public transit system to get around. They don’t benefit.

That cash giveaways are popular is hardly a surprise. So why not just stand on street corners and hand out $50 bills? Each Manitoban would get nearly four. That would be very popular! And more cash would reach more people who need it, instead of Raptor 4×4 drivers who probably don’t.

For climate policy in our province, it’s a case of one step forward and two steps back. Manitoba’s slothful response to the accelerating global energy transition makes us a climate pariah. We are one of only two provinces where greenhouse gas emissions have actually risen since 2005 (an ignominy we share with Alberta), when under Paris Accord targets they should have fallen sharply.

Both NDP and PC governments past and present have done little to prepare for rapid decarbonization that is now taking place around the world. Both point to our green electricity grid (true) and congratulate themselves for wise planning. But they ignore the inconvenient fact that three quarters of our energy use is fossil-fuel based.

The staggering cost of the NDP gas tax cut, that promotes more fossil fuel consumption, tells us they could get by without that revenue. So how about when it ends in September, those ‘new’ funds do some good? And here good is defined as more than just, literally, buying votes.

Since they have started with a modest EV rebate program, start with building out the EV infrastructure. If you’re driving your EV north on Highway 6 and can’t find a working EV charger, you might be stranded for days. How about EV charging stations along our highways integrated with rest stops that have real washrooms instead of porta potties? Providing incentives for businesses to install EV chargers would be an obvious next step. How about subsidies for low-income Manitobans for public transit, ebikes and scooters; and income-tested rebates for energy efficiency in the homes? Make public transit seriously better. It’s not the cost of the bus in Winnipeg that keeps ridership low. It’s the lousy system that prevents people from parking their gas guzzlers.

And what won’t cost the government a dime is to start a frank discussion with Manitobans about the energy transition. This requires a coherent policy message, not megadollars spent on gas-tax cuts, and pennies on climate initiatives. Stop cosying up to the climate deniers and greenwashers, such as Poilievre, Moe, Smith, Khan, and other right-wing politicians about carbon taxes. The quicker we wean ourselves off fossil fuels, the less carbon taxes matter.

They can inform Manitobans that renewable energy, especially solar, is now cheaper than fossil fuels. There’s no economic case for continued subsidies for oil and gas infrastructure that are also, by the way, clearly immoral. Don’t be duped by the fantasies of Big Oil executives and their marketing teams about carbon capture — it will never be economically viable. And with storage costs for renewable energy plummeting, any criticism about the sun not shining and wind not blowing becomes moot (a nonissue with geothermal). Tell people honestly that while there will be transition costs associated with decarbonization, life gets cheaper once we get to the other side. EV owners already know this.

Our governments, both NDP and PC, through their collective climate inertia have left this province lagging far behind. A global green economy is sprouting rapidly all around us. But in Manitoba? It’s still fields of brown.

Scott Forbes is an ecologist at the University of Winnipeg.