Canadian Legislative News

Canada’s new Parliament session began early December with the Speech from the Throne and the election of the Speaker of House. This was delivered by the Governor-General of Canada, Julie Payette, and highlighted the top priorities and vision of the new liberal government as it starts navigating through the uncertainties of governing in a minority dynamic.

Many of the liberal party pledges during the election were outlined in the Throne Speech, including fighting climate change, ensuring there is a carbon pricing system in place across the country, achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, planting two billion trees, increasing the federal minimum wage, cutting cellphone bills, banning assault-style rifles, and continued reconciliation with First Nations.

It also included ratifying the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement as a top priority. There have been recent movements on both sides of the border towards the prompt ratification of the deal. Chrystia Freeland, the Deputy Prime Minister, was recently in Washington to meet with officials in Congress and the U.S. Senate in order to press the U.S. government for ratification and implementation.

In addition, the Throne Speech directly pledges to “make it easier for people to choose zero-emission vehicles,” signaling that the government will be bringing forward new measures to increase adoption of zero-emission vehicles (ZEV) and provide additional funding to the existing federal rebate program.

Before the election, Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) began accepting requests for proposals (RFP) for the Zero-Emission Vehicle Infrastructure Program (ZEVIP). The program targets multiple infrastructure streams including public places, on-street, workplaces, fleets, multi-unit residential buildings, and mass transit. The funding will be delivered through a cost-sharing agreement (50%) for eligible projects of total costs up to a maximum of $5,000,000 per project. The first phase of RFPs is focused on public places and on-street ZEV charging infrastructure. The next phase will target workplaces and fleets. The next call for proposals is scheduled for winter 2020. For fleet managers, this pledge provides a degree of certainty as they plan investments to green and electrify their fleets.

The next step for Parliament would be debate and vote on the Throne Speech. The Liberals will need to garner support from one of the other opposition parties to pass this vote of confidence. The New Democratic Party and the Conservatives have already indicated that they will not support the current version of the Throne Speech and will be proposing amendments. NAFA Canadian Counsel will monitor closely while this unfolds and will continue to hold the government accountable for the priorities of fleets in Canada.