Canadian Government Promotes Green Cars

The Conservative government released its annual busget this Mar19th,2007 and made many commitments to fuel efficient cars.

Among the most popular measures introduced was the tax credit for purchasing fuel efficient cars. A basic $1000 rebate for automobiles getting 6.5 L/100 km or less and larger vans, truck and SUV's getting 8.3 L/100. There is even an additional $1000 tax credit available based on values exceeding those above (a Toyota Prius could get the maximum $2000). E-85 vehicles will also be eligable for the credits. For those of you living in P.E.I. that means nearly $5000 dollars of incentives are available as PEI is one of the few proactive provinces offering it's own tax breaks.

One of the most surprising measures introduced was the plan to charge levies on inefficient gas guzzlers starting with the 2011 model year. This went much further than most optimistic environmentalists will admit.

On top of this they plan to start leading by example. The federal government has 26000 automobiles and they are targeting a 15% reduction in green house gas production over 2003 levels.

This budget left many environmentalists scratching their heads. They have generally opposed the Conservative government as their initial mandates and election promising were decidely anti enviroment but their actions after 1 year in office are better than they could of hoped for. Not surprisingly many of them are still anti Conservative even though this is the most pro environmentally friendly budget ever released in canada.

As long as the policies are good who cares what party is in charge, come on environmentalists, admit they're doing a good job and start backing these great measures. Whinning about our problems all the time isn't helping...

Staff, GreenCarsNow.com , a website devoted to promoting fuel efficient vehicles and alternative fuels.