Those with an attentive ear may have picked up on the distinct sound of sobbing emanating from the Department of Canadian Identity and Culture. They are the sobs of its minister, erstwhile Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Stephen Guilbeault, watching the slow but certain immolation of Canada’s electric vehicle sales mandate, as it goes up in smoke. Friday, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced that automakers would no longer need to have 20 per cent of their sales be zero emission vehicles, either fully electric or hybrid election, in 2026.