The National Post reports in its Friday, Feb. 6, edition that the electric vehicle mandate that would have forced 100 per cent of all new cars sold in Canada to be zero-emission vehicles by 2035 has been scrapped. The Post's Carson Jerema writes that Prime Minister Mark Carney is sounding like he is enacting major policy shifts, while changing very little. The Thursday announcement appeared to be more about reinstating tax credits for people buying EVs and, most importantly, the government's "more stringent" tailpipe-emissions standards. According to Mr. Carney, the new standard will be the same as requiring 75 per cent of all new cars be zero-emissions by 2035 and 90 per cent by 2040, as opposed to 100 per cent by 2035 under the old policy. So an economically ruinous plan has been replaced with a slightly less economically ruinous plan. This is like removing a lead weight from one leg and placing a slightly lighter lead weight on the other. The PM claims that this will give carmakers more flexibility in how they bring emissions down, but ultimately, the policy is an EV mandate by another name. It also assumes that Canadians actually want to buy electric vehicles, even though evidence shows they do not want them.