The Financial Post reports in its Wednesday edition that a C.D. Howe Institute policy paper suggests Ottawa suspend its electric vehicle mandate until it resolves a myriad of trade issues. The Post's Gabriel Friedman writes that paper author Brian Livingston said: "That may take a day, a month, a year or I don't know how long. But you can't have this mandate in place when you have a whole lot of other stuff going on." The EV mandate set minimum sales requirements for automakers: 20 per cent by 2026, 30 per cent by 2030 and 100 per cent by 2035. By mid-2025, EV sales in Canada were only about 9 per cent of total vehicle sales, well below the 20-per-cent target for next year. In September, the federal government announced a one-year pause and a 60-day review of the policy. In his paper, Mr. Livingston warned that the EV mandate could negatively impact Canada's auto sector, potentially costing over $200-million in 2026, leading to payments shifting from domestic to foreign automakers, and reducing the availability of internal combustion engine and hybrid vehicles. He said the EV mandate is "just not going to work." He doubts whether automakers in Canada will meet the 20 per cent EV sales minimum by 2026.