B.C. ends subsidies for Tesla products amid trade war

The province is taking aim at Tesla, banning the company's products from BC Hydro's electric vehicle rebate program.

Tesla products are no longer eligible for rebates through B.C.’s provincial programs, officials confirmed Thursday.

The move, according to BC Hydro’s website, is being made “to preference Canadian goods in our rebate programs going forward and to exclude, where practicable, U.S. produced goods.”

The exclusion explicitly targets billionaire Elon Musk’s company amid a trade war instigated by U.S. President Donald Trump. Musk – a close Trump ally who has been appointed as a special government employee – has used his social media platform to make statements disparaging outgoing prime minister Justin Trudeau and to say “Canada is not a real country.”

Energy Minister Adrian Dix, asked about the change, said he didn’t think taxpayer dollars should be paying for Tesla products.

“I don’t think anyone in British Columbia needs to be told why, and I think most people would support their removal from that list,” he said.

Related: B.C. Tesla owners disgusted with Elon Musk; embarrassed to drive their electric cars

A petition to revoke Musk’s Canadian citizenship on the grounds that he has “engaged in activities that go against the national interest of Canada” and “attacked Canadian sovereignty” has amassed hundreds of thousands of signatures.

Tesla EVs were already ineligible for the province’s rebates due to their cost, but chargers, energy storage batteries and inverters were among products eligible for subsidies as part of a broader effort to incentivize clean energy.

Anyone who was approved for a rebate before March 12 will still be able to claim it.