NDP promises rebates for EV buyers, other environmental-protection measures

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This article was published 17/08/2023 (266 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The provincial NDP is promising to give the environment a boost by offering financial incentives to Manitobans who buy a new or used electric vehicle.

Leader Wab Kinew said if the New Democrats form government after the Oct. 3 election, they will offer families a $4,000 rebate for new electric vehicles and a $2,500 rebate for used EVs, including plug-in hybrid and leased vehicles.

“We have to deliver incentives to help the average family make clean, safe and healthy choices to fight against global warming,” Kinew said at a campaign event in the Assiniboine Forest Friday, flanked by NDP caucus members, candidates and young families.

“It is my firm belief that if we make it as affordable for the average family to do the environmentally friendly thing… then the average family in Manitoba will choose to do the environmentally friendly thing,” he said.

“We have to be there to help them, and we have to be there to level the playing field so families in the province can make the right choices.”

The NDP leader also promised to restore funding to environmental organizations that was cut by the Progressive Conservative government, and expand the amount of protected land in Manitoba by signing on to the “30 by ‘30” federal conservation commitment, in consultation with Indigenous communities.

Ottawa’s goal is to conserve 30 per cent of Canada’s land and water by 2030 to reverse the decline in biodiversity, better fight climate change and maintain a sustainable economy.

The Manitoba chapter of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society has called on political parties in the provincial election to commit to the initiative.

“We are in a climate crisis. We are in a nature crisis, so this action is absolutely necessary and it is achievable,” executive director Ron Thiessen said after the NDP event.

The organization has given the provincial government a poor grade when it comes to conservation, saying Manitoba has established only 404 square kilometres of new protected areas since 2015. From 2016 to 2021, the total protected area has increased to 11 per cent from 10.9 per cent — “a rounding error,” the organization noted.

The non-partisan advocacy group has commended the province for promising to spend$110 million on park infrastructure, as well for its Conservation Trust, which funds non-government initiatives.

The PCs wouldn’t say Friday whether, if re-elected, they’d commit to the 30 by ‘30 conservation initiative or offer rebates on electronic vehicles.

“Wab Kinew and the NDP want to shut down Manitoba’s natural resource economy and kill thousands of good-paying jobs for Manitoba families,” said the Tories’ Greg Nesbitt, natural resources minister, in a prepared statement on behalf of the PC party.

“This threatens our economic security, hurts First Nations, and drives up the cost of living for all Manitobans,” Nesbitt said. “Only the PCs will fight for Manitoba workers and grow our economy by balancing responsible resource development and environmental stewardship – without shutting out one-third of the province and leaving the north behind.”

Kinew said the Tories have failed to respond to the climate crisis.

“We all know that climate change is no longer a threat on the horizon,” he said, pointing to devastating wildfires in Canada and elsewhere that have taken lives, destroyed homes and forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of people.

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“It is a reality knocking on our doorsteps,” he said. “Now is the time to act,” he said.

The NDP response to climate change is comparable to “bringing a squirt gun to a forest fire,” Manitoba Liberal Leader Dougald Lamont said Friday.

“There are better ways to fight climate change than with boutique rebates for electric vehicles when there are far too little charging stations in Manitoba,” Lamont said in a prepared statement to respond to the NDP announcement.

“Restoring 50/50 transit funding in Winnipeg and other urban centres would have a much bigger and immediate impact, which is why we’re doing that,” he said.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca

Carol Sanders
Legislature reporter

After 20 years of reporting on the growing diversity of people calling Manitoba home, Carol moved to the legislature bureau in early 2020.

   Read full biography