Like many locations around the world, sales of Tesla in Canada have been declining for several months. This is an obvious response to Elon Musk’s oversized role in the Trump administration and his repeated slander of Canadian sovereignty.
But somehow, four Tesla-owned dealers reported to the Canadian government that they sold an astounding 8,653 cars over one weekend in January.
Now, the Canadian government wants to know exactly how the electric car maker has been able to move two cars a minute away from a one minute lot. This assumes that these four dealers were open 24 hours a day from January 10th to January 12th.
These payments were frozen this month after Mark Kearney became Canadian Prime Minister and was appointed as the new Minister of Transport, who ordered each claim to be considered individually and to determine whether everything is eligible and valid. Minister Christyre Freeland said “the payment will not be made until we are convinced that the claim is valid.”
The grant program has expired, but Freeland said that if something new Teslas is ineligible “as long as there is non-giatian and illegal US tariffs are imposed on Canada.”
Tesla’s profits were a loss for some of its competitors.
Breathtaking sales claims from dealers in Ontario, British Columbia and Quebec have drained funds from the government’s rebate program and ended it before the March 31 end date. As a result, the Canadian Automotive Dealer Association estimates that 225 dealers selling other brands were unable to charge about $10 million in Canadian dollars, putting some of them in financial danger.
Huw Williams, a spokesman for the Dealer Association, said: “Transaction levels are not just commonalities.”
Tesla did not respond to requests for comment. The Toronto star was first reported on sales slash claims posted on the government website that tracks rebate payments.
Under the government plan launched in 2019, dealers deducted a rebate of up to C$5,000 when selling the electric vehicle before reporting purchase information, including the buyer’s name and vehicle identification number.
The torrent of Tesla’s claims began on January 10th after Transport Canada warned dealers nationwide that the program would run out of money by the end of March. By Monday morning, the accounts had been emptied and the program had been closed.
Around 1,000 dealers selling other brands filed their claims that weekend, while Tesla accounted for around 88% of the application.
“How did Tesla magically know to hit those numbers?” asked Williams, referring to the emissions of the remaining funds from the rebate program.
While some dealers stacked up claims before filing them with the government, Williams said the Tesla spike “doesn’t fit the pattern of Tesla going backwards.”
He also said it is physically impossible for four Tesla dealers to have thousands of cars on hand.
Williams told his group that dealers who missed after Tesla empty the sky would eventually be refunded, but it’s unclear how long that would take.
Tesla has been a source of certain outrage among Canadians ever since President Trump began imposing tariffs on Canada and sought Canada to become the 51st state. The annexation is defended by Musk, who retained Canadian citizenship and lived in Canada before moving to the United States.
An online petition calling on the Canadian government to revoke Musk’s citizenship has drawn hundreds of thousands of signatures.
This month, tires rang, shattered, tires were punctured and painted at a dealer in Hamilton, Ontario. The Tesla outlet in Montreal had no pink paint. And in Vancouver, car show organizers banned the company on concerns about possible protests and vandalism.
Four Canadian provinces have removed Tesla from its electric vehicle rebate program this year.
At least one Tesla competitor is about to gain resentment. Polestar, the dominant Swedish-based Chinese EV manufacturer, offers Canadians a CAD of 5,000 if Tesla owners can prove they are registered.
