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Quebec ready to discuss greater incentives to purchase electric vehicles

The 32-member committee, which includes Caisse de dépôt head Michael Sabia, wants Quebec to have 500,000 such vehicles in service by 2030

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Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard has cautiously welcomed a recommendation that his government increase existing financial incentives for those who want to purchase a fully electric vehicle.

Increased financial incentives was one of 12 recommendations in the report submitted Monday to Couillard by the province’s committee on the economy and innovation.

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The 32-member committee, which includes Caisse de dépôt head Michael Sabia, wants Quebec to have 500,000 such vehicles in service by 2030.

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Apart from increased financing, the committee is also calling for 2,000 recharging stations to be “quickly” added to the existing network, which at the moment has no more than 70, according to government figures.

Couillard told reporters his government has already put “a lot of public money on the table” to induce the public to purchase electric vehicles, but he was willing to discuss the issue.

At the moment, Quebec offers discounts of up to $8,000 for the purchase of an electric car.

According to figures compiled by the Association des véhicules électriques du Québec, about 18,000 electric cars are on the province’s roads, a figure the government would like to see increased to 100,000 by 2020.

Other recommendations made by the committee include the creation of the largest artificial intelligence network in North America and changes in the Quebec building code to allow greater use of wood in major construction.

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