Carol Hughes and other NDP Northern Ontario MPs are asking the federal government to make good on its promises to provide electric vehicle charging infrastructure all across the province.
The sole electric vehicle (EV) charging station in White River has been out of operation since April when a damaged transformer took it out of operation.
“In one case, in White River, the issue was due to a damaged transformer, which is an unfortunate but reasonable issue; however the fact that this EV charger has been out of service since April is unreasonable," the Algoma-Manitoulin-
Hughes called on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Ford government of Ontario to ensure EV chargers are available and dependable throughout the north as summer vacationers take to the roads.
The call came in response to promises made in the federal government’s Zero Emission Vehicle Infrastructure Program which offers subsidies to private companies to install EV charging stations and requires a reliability guarantee to be eligible for the subsidy.
"To date, companies with broken stations have not been held accountable," said the release.
The federal program was passed after Ford scrapped provincial rebates for EV charging stations, as well as removed many across the province in 2018.
Hughes and Charlie Angus, NDP MP for Timmins-James Bay have received reports of chargers across Northern Ontario, specifically Marathon, White River and Wawa, being out of service, leaving drivers stranded along the highway.
“This has been a failure of both the provincial and federal governments," Angus said. "The electric vehicle economy Trudeau loves to talk about won’t take off without the infrastructure there.
“Time and time again, we’ve heard promises from this Liberal government on their commitment to a clean energy transition, but fail to provide the infrastructure and reliability needed for people to go out and buy electric vehicles," he added.
"The country and our planet can’t wait any longer.”