The times have changed, but car company excuses have stayed the same. From seatbelts, to tailpipe emissions rules, the auto industry has always put their profits before the safety of people and the planet.

Each time, Governments have had to step in to tell the auto industry to clean up its act. Now with Canada’s proposed Clean Car Standard, this familiar story is repeating itself again.

Our new video shows how car companies’ reaction to Canada’s proposed Zero Emissions Vehicle (ZEV) Sales Regulation comes from the same playbook that they have been using for decades to fight measures to make vehicles safer and less polluting.

Taking the viewer on a journey from the 1960s to today, the video shows how the auto industry has claimed their business would fail if it was required to add seat belts or catalytic converters, or improve the fuel economy of vehicles. But each time, predictions that the sky would fall didn’t come true.

As the video makes clear, the sky never fell on car companies and won’t fall if Canada moves forward with a Clean Car Standard.

Environmental Defence is calling on the auto industry to stop fighting to slow down the transition to zero-emission vehicles, and instead work more productively with regulators to reach Canada’s climate target of phasing out the sale of new gasoline cars by 2035.

TAKE ACTION: Tell Canada that you support a strong Clean Car Standard!