Prime Minister Mark Carney is expected to announce a national automotive strategy Thursday which will scrap the electric vehicle sales mandate in favour of new vehicle emissions standards and revive consumer rebates for EV purchases.

Ottawa is also set to announce an EV infrastructure fund, expected to be worth $1.5 billion.

Government and industry sources, who were not authorized to publicly discuss details ahead of the announcement, say Ottawa will introduce emission standards on new vehicles similar to what’s in place in Europe.

The European Union sets emissions performance standards for new passenger cars and vans, commonly known as “corporate average fuel efficiency” standards, or CAFE. The system requires that average emissions from all new passenger cars and vans meet specific emissions targets.

The European Commission says the regulations led to a 28 per cent decrease in emissions from all new passenger cars between 2019 and 2024, while emissions from new vans dropped nine per cent.

While it’s not clear what Canada’s standards will be, Europe’s current target is to ensure that all new cars and vans produce no emissions by 2035 — although revised regulations proposed in December would reduce the target to 90 per cent, allowing some flexibility for plug-in hybrids.

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One source said Canada’s new emissions regulations would get close to the reduction in emissions set out in the original EV mandate.

The previous Liberal government set a target of having EVs account for at least 20 per cent of sales across Canada this year. The target was to increase to 100 per cent by 2035.

Carney paused the EV mandate in September and launched a 60-day review to offer Canada’s auto sector liquidity in the face of the ongoing trade war with the United States.

2:06
Prime Minister Carney pauses EV mandates for 2026

Automakers had called on the government to scrap the sales mandate altogether, arguing it was unnecessary since Canada already has other policies to meet its emissions reduction targets.

As first reported by CBC News, the government is also expected to revive the popular incentives program to encourage Canadians to buy new EVs.

The incentive for zero-emission vehicles program — iZEV for short — was paused last year after its funding pool of more than $3 billion ran out.

Sources tell The Canadian Press the government will bring back the rebates at a similar level. Ottawa is expected to offer $5,000 toward the purchase of a new fully electric vehicle and $2,500 for plug-in hybrids.

Previously, fully-electric and longer-range plug-in hybrid electric vehicles received the full $5,000 rebate, while shorter-range ones were eligible for a $2,500 rebate.

Conventional hybrid vehicles will no longer be eligible for rebates, but manufacturers will be able to claim emissions credits for selling them.

Federal ministers promised during and after the spring election campaign to being back the incentives but never set a date. That frustrated car dealers who said EV sales slumped as consumers opted to wait for the rebates to return.

EV sales in Canada started to rise toward the end of 2025. According to the most recent data from Statistics Canada, EVs accounted for 11.3 per cent of all new vehicle sales in November.

Monthly sales peaked in December of 2024 at 18.29 per cent, before the iZEV program was paused.

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An immigration expert says a dip in Saskatchewan’s latest population numbers can be attributed to a decline in non-permanent residents, as the province’s official Opposition opens itself up to suggestions on how to keep young people in.

Last October, Saskatchewan’s population grew by 9,251 people compared to the same reporting period in 2024, bringing the total to 1,266,234.

But compared to the end of the second quarter in July 2025, the population dropped by 725 people.

At a Wednesday press conference, Saskatchewan’s opposition leader, Carla Beck, said the province’s population declined for the first time in 20 years. However, a slight drop in the province’s population was also recorded between January and October of 2020, when the population dropped from 1,169,426 to 1,165,963, according to the province’s population numbers.

“Let’s not assume that people don’t wanna stay here, but there are things that are keeping them from staying in this province,” Beck said.

The NDP says the population dip is due to young people leaving the province, and launched an online survey on Wednesday to gather their ideas for change.

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But according to an immigration expert, the reasons for the changing population numbers are more complex and also not unique to Saskatchewan.

“We’ve seen zero population growth throughout Canada. But in Saskatchewan, it has actually not been as precipitous as some of the other communities,” said Rupa Banerjee, Canada research chair in the economic inclusion of immigrants and professor at Toronto Metropolitan University.

In a statement to Global News, the provincial government attributes the drop in population to a “necessary reset” in the number of immigrants to Canada.

“We continue to be supportive of carefully managed immigration that benefits Saskatchewan’s and Canada’s economy, and we expect Saskatchewan’s population to return to gradual, manageable growth in the future,” the statement read.

In 2024, the federal government introduced a cap on the number of temporary foreign workers and international students to address surging immigration levels.

This also led to the scaling back of the Provincial Nominee Program, which gives provinces an allowance for the number of skilled workers they can bring in each year. Banerjee says it is the reduction of the allowances in this program that has largely impacted Saskatchewan’s population.

Alongside the drop in skilled workers coming into the province, another issue leading to the lowered population numbers is that many who come to work in the province are choosing not to stay.

“Saskatchewan has done a really good job of putting preference on skilled workers, particularly in health care, in tech, and other areas like skilled trades where we really do have labour shortages,” said Banerjee.

“So people are coming in, but the question is, how long do they stay?”

According to Banerjee, newcomers who move to the province for a job often leave because they lack the services, community and support they feel they require to settle for the long term.

“I think the solution to that is providing more services for newcomers and building community. Resources so that people can build those communities,” said Banerjee, pointing to Halifax as a city that was not previously an immigrant centre but is making strides to support new communities.

“We don’t want people just to come here temporarily and then leave. We want them to settle, we want them to have children here, we want those children to do well and be prosperous and essentially allow Canada to grow and be prosperous,” said Banerjee.

In August, Saskatchewan was granted nearly 1,100 additional spots under the Saskatchewan Immigrant Nominee Program, bringing the province’s total to 4,761.

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Ashley Salmen is reeling after a recent theft from her vehicle outside her Kelowna, B.C., townhouse.

“I want the uniform back. I want it off the street,” Salmen said.

Salmen is a paramedic and among the items recently stolen was her uniform and paramedic ID.

“It has the patches, the emblems and that’s my concern, is that someone is going to use this uniform for ill will,” Salmen told Global News.

The theft happened on Saturday, Jan. 31 on Kneller Road in the city’s Rutland area.

The first responder says it was just before 7 a.m. when she came home after working an overnight shift.

She says she parked her vehicle in front of her garage to run inside and grab something before leaving again. But when she got back outside, her bag was gone.

“I didn’t realize my passenger door was unlocked. I didn’t double check my vehicle because I was only going for not even two minutes,” Salmen said. “I parked at 6:50 in the morning and by 6:52 my stuff had been taken.”

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A neighbour’s security camera captured a video of a woman walking through the townhouse complex with a bicycle during that brief time Salmen was inside.

The paramedic says her bag is on the handlebars.

0:35
Firefighter uniforms stolen from North Vancouver dry cleaners

B.C. Emergency Health Services said no one was available for comment Wednesday.

RCMP confirmed they are investigating the theft and working towards identifying a suspect, including reviewing surveillance footage from the area.

“It is important to the public to know that this uniform is out there,” said Kelowna RCMP Cpl. Steven Lang.

With the uniform representing a position of authority, it raises public safety concerns if misused, something Lang said people need to be aware of.

“If they think there’s anything suspicious or the person that may be in front of them isn’t who they pretend to be or say that they are just to contact the agency that is being represented,” Lang said.

“And if their instinct is telling them something might be untoward or feels a little off, that they should believe in those signs.”

Salmen is also encouraging residents to be vigilant.

“I want the uniform back. I want it off the street,” she said.

4:03
B.C. paramedics’ union calls for mediation in contract talks

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The Saskatoon Paramedic Association says job action is now on the table, with its members voting unanimously to give the union a strike mandate.

Association president, Russell Grant, says years of recruitment and retainment challenges among both paramedics and dispatchers have left EMS staff overwhelmed.

“We are losing staff members to allied services that be like Saskatoon Police Service, Saskatoon Fire Protective Services, nursing. We also have a significant number of staff that just leave the industry entirely. And a lot of that is within the first couple years of their career, which is kind of alarming,” Grant said.

“We want to see working conditions be to the point where people actually want to stay here.”

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Grant says losing skilled staff hurts everybody, and exhaustion is driving numbers down. “This is just increasing fatigue, burnout,” he said.

“The amount of staff that are off on mental health leaves, physical health leaves is alarmingly high and it needs to be properly addressed now before public safety is negatively impacted.”

The union has been without a contract since March of 2024 and bargaining and mediation have ended in an impasse. As of now, the association has no timeline on what job action could look like, but day-to-day operations will remain largely unchanged, and any steps would come with advanced notice.

Grant hopes the possibility of a strike may lead to a deal getting done through the public’s support.

“I hope it sparks conversation amongst the public and public can then talk to their MLAs, talk to Medavie Health Services West directly, put the pressure where it needs to go to get this resolved in a timely fashion,” Grant said.

In a statement to Global News, the SHA says no job action has been taken at this time, and they will continue to work with Medavie to ensure continuity of services. Medavie added that there are no changes to 9-1-1 and residents should call as usual.

Watch above for more on why paramedics voted for a strike mandate and what’s next.

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