Tesla has won the electric vehicle rebate lawsuit against Ontario’s Progressive Conservative government.
The ruling on August 27 by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice read that the cancellation of the rebate program was unlawful.
“Tesla argues that the government unlawfully targeted it without any rational basis,” Justice Frederick Myers wrote. “It says that had the government spoken to Tesla before excluding it from the program changes, Tesla could have shown the government that the exclusion of Tesla’s customers from the two month wind-down made no sense even on the grounds now advanced by the government.”
“Tesla fears that it is being demonized for purposes that are outside the legitimate reach of the laws that govern electric car subsidies in Ontario,” Myers added.
This decision by the court happened about a month after Doug Ford’s cancellation of Ontario’s electric vehicle rebate program.
Previous to that, Ford’s Progressive Conservative government also cancelled the cap-and-trade program, which was linked to the Green Energy Fund.
The fund fought climate change by giving homeowners reduced energy bills as part of an incentive to lower their carbon footprint. It also supported the construction of about 500 electric vehicle charging stations across Ontario.
