Do you ever get an email so ridiculous it makes your blood boil?
This was me this past week, reading more fear-inducing scare tactics from a Conservative MP. This time it was from MP Melissa Lantsman, who want us to believe that the Liberals are about to pry the key to our gas-powered vehicles from our cold Canadian hands.
It reads like something from a climate change Facebook meme group run by your not-so-bright uncle. And yet, this is an official message from a sitting MP, distributed to a massive mailing list, intended to stoke fear, outrage, and, of course, donations.
This is exactly what Conservative scare tactics look like in 2025 (as they did in 2024 and 2023 etc): misleading half-truths, selective outrage, and fear-mongering disguised as freedom-loving patriotism.
What’s Really Happening in 2035
Let’s get this straight: No one is taking away your car. The government is not “making your gas-powered vehicle illegal.”
What’s being proposed, following the lead of countries like the UK, Norway, and even California, is a phase-out of new gas-powered vehicle sales starting in 2035 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and meet our climate goals. That means no new sales of gas cars from that year onwards. If you own a gas car, you can keep it, sell it, buy a used one, or drive it until the wheels fall off. No government agent is going to knock on your door and tow it away. Nobody is going to show up and confiscate your Ford F-150.
The horrifying $20,000 figure Lantsman tosses in also doesn’t hold up. According to BloombergNEF, EVs are expected to reach price parity with gas vehicles by 2027, not including government incentives and the thousands in fuel and maintenance savings. So no, your next car doesn’t need to cost the same as a down payment on a house.
The Real Playbook of Conservative Scare Tactics
This isn’t really about vehicles. It’s about control. And fear.
Conservative scare tactics positively thrive on the idea that progress is dangerous. Change is framed as an existential threat. Anything new becomes part of a sinister plot: electric cars, carbon pricing, inclusive education, clean energy, pandemic response – you name it.
The pattern is to take a policy meant to improve public well-being, twist it into a personal attack on your “freedom and blame the “elites” loudly while quietly serving the interests of Big Oil, Big Pharma, or Big Tech and profit (literally).
Solving problems isn’t the point. Keeping you afraid is. For example, Lantsman’s email warns that EVs lose battery capacity in cold weather, which is true: they can lose around 30-40%, BUT so do gas cars, especially in the north.
Who benefits from this fear?
Lobbyists in the Room
Like a swarm of bees, lobbyists are thick among the Conservative Party under Poilievre: relentless, organized, and laser-focused on feeding the hive of corporate power.
- 6 of the 20 members of the party’s National Council have direct ties to lobbying firms.
- Conservatives rejected a resolution that would have banned lobbyists from holding internal party roles.
- Poilievre’s staff have met with oil and gas lobbyists dozens of times, even while publicly railing against lobbyists.
- Groups tied to Koch Industries, Canadian Gas Association, and Enbridge are part of their extended influence network.
- Lantsman herself has been lobbied by dozens of corporations, including Starlight Investments, Google Canada, and Dow Chemical.
While all major parties deal with lobbyists, the Conservative Party has built a pipeline between industry and policy. It’s no wonder their messaging sounds like a copy-paste from an oil executive’s whiteboard.
The Pattern
Lantsman’s email fits a broader pattern of scare tactics we’re seeing from right-wing figures in both Canada and the U.S.:
- Remember the gas stove “ban” in the US? A few modest efficiency proposals sparked weeks of outrage about the government “stealing your kitchen.”
- In 2018, Doug Ford axed Ontario’s EV incentives, then later used taxpayer money to attract EV plants for photo ops.
- Danielle Smith, the mistress of scare tactics, positioned clean electricity rules as a federal attack on Alberta, even as smoke from wildfires choked her province.
- How about when Conservatives claimed carbon pricing would bankrupt Canadian families? Studies show that 8 out of 10 households actually got more back in rebates than they pay. I’m not seeing significant price reductions anywhere, contrary to Conservative advertising.
Each of these is a variation on the same theme: create panic, deny nuance, and paint progress as punishment.
The Agenda
Let’s be blunt. The real fear driving these emails isn’t about your car. It’s about power.
The fossil fuel industry doesn’t want to lose profits. Billionaire donors don’t want regulation. Corporations don’t want to invest in clean tech if they can milk the old system for another decade.
So politicians like Lantsman play the middleman – stirring up resentment among everyday people who think they’re fighting for freedom, when in fact they’re protecting billionaires from accountability.
Why I Stay Subscribed to this crap
Sigh!
I joined the Conservative Party a while back so I could vote against Pierre Poilievre and my small act of protest has left me on a lifetime mailing list from hell.
I want to unsubscribe daily, but I don’t. I think someone has to keep reading this crap to point out just how manipulative and dishonest it is.
It’s beyond annoying – it’s dangerous.
These emails stoke fear to protect the powerful by tricking everyday people into fighting progress that would actually help them.
Dear Melissa…
If you’re so concerned about Canadians freezing in the north without an EV charger, you might want to support more charger infrastructure instead of spreading misinformation about “economic sabotage.”
And if your fellow Conservatives want to help working Canadians, they should stop framing progress as punishment.
The world is changing. The climate is changing. The economy is changing. You can’t plug your ears and yell “FREEDOM” forever, hoping for a miracle.
But we can stop falling for the same tired script.
