Toronto, ON: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is calling on the Ford and Trudeau governments to rule out any additional EV manufacturing handouts.

“Canadians are struggling to put gas in their tanks and food on their tables,” said CTF Ontario Director Jay Goldberg. “The last thing governments should be doing is looking at borrowing billions more on the backs of taxpayers to hand over to wealthy auto giants.”

Ontario Economic Development Minister Vic Fedeli says there are as many as three more EV corporate welfare negotiations ongoing, according to the National Post.

The Ford and Trudeau governments have thus far handed out $57 billion in electric vehicle manufacturing subsidies to wealthy auto giants like Volkswagen, Stellantis, Honda and the Ford Motor Company.

Each handout has worked out to cost taxpayers millions of dollars for every job directly created.

Recent news has shown that gambling on EVs is a risky bet for taxpayers. 

The Ford Motor Company is losing $132,000 on every electric vehicle sold, according to recent reports. Tesla has missed sales targets, with sales down by more than 13 per cent in the first quarter of 2024. AutoTrader says Canadian interest in EVs is down by 10 per cent compared to last year.

“Only politicians and government bureaucrats could think it’s a good idea to blow millions of dollars of taxpayer cash per job to build cars that people don’t want,” said Goldberg. “Premier Doug Ford and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau need to put down the taxpayer credit card. There must be no more EV handouts, full stop.”