A Canadian government scheme to promote hybrid cars is…<\/p>\n
…accelerating sales of pickup trucks:<\/p>\n
Stephen Harper’s Conservative government exempted pickup trucks when it unveiled its so-called eco-AUTO program in March because it said many people use them for work. It argued that makes them more of a need than a transportation choice. The government’s program promises rebates of up to $2,000 to buyers of certain fuel-efficient vehicles and slaps an excise tax of up to $4,000 on the biggest gas guzzlers – typically SUVs or sports cars.<\/p>\n
The exemption has pushed consumers thinking of buying an SUV to pick a pickup instead, said Dennis DesRosiers, president of the consultancy and a harsh critic of Ottawa’s green-car program.<\/p>\n
“Leave a loophole and consumers and dealers will exploit it,” Mr. DesRosiers said. “Why doesn’t the federal government just admit that this whole thing has been a fiasco from day one and is not working?”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Er…because they’d have to re-evaluate the notion of trying to enact social change via tinkering with the economy, and that’d drive them screaming from the room in terror?<\/p>\n