Canada

"Climate policy planks that were delivering significant emissions reductions are falling one by one," Debora Van Nijnatten, professor of political science and environmental studies at Wilfred Laurier University, said in a phone interview with Canada's National Observer.

"There appears to be no plan to replace that with other emission reduction strategies, and there's no plan in place to show how the reactive policy choices that they've been making in a piecemeal fashion add up to any climate strategy that is integrated with the economic strategy."

"The Liberals keep retreating in the face of populist conservative rhetoric that targets some aspects of climate policy," Van Nijnatten said.

With Chinese and European carmakers surging forward with EVs, Van Nijnatten fears pausing the mandate will only add to the gap in North American competitiveness while limiting choice for consumers.

North American automakers “will not choose to do it on their own, because, first of all, they're protected by tariff walls and, second of all, they're protected by policy and politics,” she said.