Here are the auto promises being made during the Ontario election campaign

Ontario’s key political parties all have a single automotive priority heading into the June 2 provincial election: the transition to electric vehicles.

What differs between the Progressive Conservatives, the New Democrats, the Liberals and the Green Party? Their approach to the shift, such as EV rebates for consumers, support for automakers and strategies for building a battery supply chain.

Automotive News Canada interviewed each party to gauge its approach to the auto industry and the transition to EVs.

Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario

If elected to a second term, Premier Ford said his government will look to maintain Ontario’s recent momentum on the automotive file.

The Progressive Conservative approach to the EV shift has emphasized helping automakers and parts suppliers reduce the cost of doing business in the province. This has included an electricity-rate reduction for industry as well as significant financial contributions to support building EVs.

“I believe that if we invest in the industry and the sector, then everyone’s going to benefit very, very well. And I truly, truly believe [EV adoption] is going to increase and grow,” Ford told Automotive News Canada.

The government launched the second phase of its auto-sector road map last fall, pledging to work toward a series of goals that include securing EV product mandates for existing vehicle plants, attracting a new assembly plant to the province and establishing a battery-mineral supply chain anchored by at least two battery-cell plants.

Two examples: Government funding was recently firmed up for General Motors’ CAMI plant in Ingersoll, which will undergo a retrofit to build BrightDrop electric delivery vans by the end of the year, and the announcement on March 23 of a $5-billion LG-Stellantis battery-cell plant in Windsor.

While financial support for automakers factors heavily in the PC plan, incentives for consumers remain entirely absent. The government scrapped a previous rebate program after winning the 2018 election, and Ford indicated it would not be returning. His preference is to support building an industry that will create jobs and longer-term benefits.

Similarly, he said he opposes EV sales mandates currently planned by the federal Liberal government.

“I’m a private-sector person, a businessperson, a numbers guy,” Ford said. “I truly believe the technology and the auto sector will drive the market along with the consumer, not government. We’ll support them. We’ll create the environment, but we don’t dictate to the market.”

Ontario New Democratic Party

With plans for a “strong” financial incentive for consumers buying EVs, the Ontario NDP platform charts a different course.

It pledges an incentive of “up to” $10,000 for Ontarians who purchase an EV. According to Jennifer French, MPP for Oshawa and the NDP critic for infrastructure, transportation and highways, the incentive is designed to catch Ontario up with other leading provinces and make EV ownership more affordable.

The NDP provided few other details. Its platform does not break out what categories of EV would be eligible for the full incentive versus a portion of the $10,000. Luxury vehicles will not qualify for the incentive, but the party did not say what price threshold would constitute a luxury vehicle.

The party’s platform pledges a $600 grant for households to install EV chargers and would require new homes to have vehicle-charging capacity. Public charging infrastructure would also be made a priority, but the plan does not break out a firm figure for investments.

The spending is part of a wider strategy that the NDP says will support both industry and workers during the transition to EVs. The plan will take a longer-term view, said French, who characterized automotive efforts by the Ford government as response-oriented.

“It’s been quite reactionary, I think, in the last few years, and a lot of that bad news first and then we have the reprieve,” she said, pointing to the closure and then reopening of the Oshawa Assembly Plant.

The NDP platform pledges to electrify government fleets by 2030 and offer accelerated depreciation for commercial and industrial buyers of zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs).

A new cap-and-trade system is included in the NDP platform as well, with an unspecified portion of revenues going to manufacturers in energy-intensive industries to help them stay competitive. The platform also commits to accelerated depreciation for certain industrial retrofits.

Ontario Liberal Party

Leader Steven Del Duca said the province’s recent automotive wins, such as the $5.2-billion LG-Stellantis battery-cell plant planned for Windsor, are welcome developments, but for Ontario to reach its full potential, there needs to be a more wholistic approach to EV policy.

“We have to make it quite clear in this province that we don’t just want to say the right things around being a leader in the technology and the supply chain and critical mineral exploration,” Del Duca said. “We have to do more than just talk.”

Since Del Duca spoke with Automotive News Canada, the province — along with the federal government and Stellantis — announced the automaker will build two EV battery research centres in Windsor, Ont.

For the Liberals, this means greater emphasis on the consumer side.

Del Duca has pledged to reinstate the province’s EV incentive, promising $8,000 to supplement the existing $5,000 federal incentive. To keep the program simple, the Ontario Liberals would align the eligibility criteria for the incentive with Ottawa’s Incentives for Zero-Emission Vehicles (iZEV) program.

The party would also add an additional $1,500 consumer incentive for in-home charging equipment and it has promised to build out public charging infrastructure more quickly.

“It’s so important for the provincial government and the federal government to work together to make it more accessible, more affordable, to make the charging infrastructure as easy to access as your neighbourhood traditional gas station — and we’re not there yet,” Del Duca said.

The Liberals have also pledged to back vehicle and battery manufacturers. After installing a new carbon pricing plan for Ontario, the party says it will reinvest a portion of funds raised in EV production. To boost the province's nascent battery supply chain, the Liberals will create a new fund to commercialize next-generation battery technology and fill gaps in the current supply chain. It did not disclose the value of the fund.  

Green Party of Ontario

Cutting costs for drivers looking to buy an EV underpins the Green Party’s automotive strategy.

Party leader Mike Schreiner, MPP for Guelph, said incentives play a “vital” role in EV adoption and will ultimately help lower their cost.

“We want to make sure that the average Ontarian can afford an electric vehicle, especially because the cost of ownership is so low, especially with these sky-high prices at the gas pumps,” Schreiner said.

The Green plan pledges a $10,000 incentive for the purchase of a new EV as well as $1,000 for the purchase of a used EV. The program would be fully aligned with the federal iZEV program on price caps, Schreiner said, but no incentives are included for hybrid or plug-in hybrids.

The incentives would increase demand, he added, leading to higher manufacturing volumes and lower production costs.

Schreiner also backs a sales mandate, saying incentives alone are unlikely to get drivers into EVs quickly enough.

“I think 15 years ago — 10 years ago, even — carrots alone would get the job done, but I think we’re going to need both carrots and sticks,” he said, pointing to a mandate as one of the sticks.

To support manufacturing, the Green Party is proposing a $5-billion innovation fund for EVs and green technology as well as a so-called climate bank with $4 billion in capital that would support capital upgrades for low-carbon upgrades for medium and small businesses.

Recent investments in the Ontario’s auto sector are encouraging, Schreiner said, but more can be done to incentivize investment in sustainable mining and the wider EV supply chain.