Tesla asks court to overturn exclusion from Manitoba EV rebate program

Tesla asks court to overturn exclusion from Manitoba EV rebate program

No other EV manufacturer with U.S. parent company excluded under 'elbows up' directive, Tesla argues

Tesla Motors Canada has asked a Manitoba court to overturn the NDP government's decision to exclude the electric-vehicle manufacturer from EV rebates in the province.

In an application filed Friday, Tesla asked the Court of King's Bench to set aside the exclusion of Tesla from EV rebates in 2025 and 2026, calling the move unreasonable, untransparent and unfair.

Tesla named the province, Manitoba Public Insurance and the ministers of finance, environment and justice as respondents. Tesla says in the application that the exclusion must be invalidated, because it's not clear which of the respondents made the exclusion or whether any of them were legally authorized to do so.

Tesla also argues the exclusion runs counter to the EV rebate program's objectives of making sustainable vehicles more affordable and encouraging Manitobans to buy them by effectively knocking $4,000 off the cost of each car.

Tesla said it wasn't consulted before the exclusion and received no rationale from the province, aside from reading media reports that the decision "was made in order to be 'elbows up' in relation to the United States of America."

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew said last week this indeed was the rationale for the exclusion.

"When it comes to [Tesla CEO] Elon Musk and his affinity for supporting Donald Trump's attacks on Canada, we cut him off. We ended the subsidies for Tesla vehicles," Kinew said Thursday.

"Elon, get Donald Trump to stop the tariffs, and then we can talk about the EV rebate."

Amy Tuckett-McGimpsey, a spokesperson for the premier, said Monday the NDP government had nothing more to say about Tesla's Manitoba legal action.

Tesla claims it's victim of 'improper shadow objectives'

In its application to overturn the exclusion, Tesla Motors Canada argues Manitoba has targeted "a Canadian corporation with well-established economic roots" in this province. Tesla Motors Canada, it said, is registered in Nova Scotia and employs Manitobans.

No other electric vehicle manufacturer with a U.S. parent company has been targeted, Tesla said.

A fifth of the electric vehicles sold in Manitoba prior to the exclusion were Tesla cars, Tesla said in the application. The exclusion has deprived Manitoba EV owners of at least $560,000 in cash rebates, the company estimates.

"The Manitoba government is pursuing unarticulated, improper 'shadow' objectives to the direct detriment of a Canadian corporate citizen and Manitobans more broadly," Tesla said in its application.

"This application raises fundamentally justiciable issues, because it challenges the Manitoba government's decision to delberately target — without justification, proper purpose, procedural fairness or regard for Manitobans' economic interests — a Canadian corporation's business activities in Canada."

Tesla requested a hearing prior to the court's summer recess. An initial hearing is scheduled for June 11, according to the application.

Manitoba's EV rebate rolled out in 2024 but was retroactive to 2023. It entitled Manitobans buying a new electric vehicle or plug-in hybrid priced below $70,000 to a $4,000 rebate. Used and leased EVs qualified for a $2,500 or $1,000 rebate, respectively.

In 2025, Finance Minister Adrien Sala said removing Tesla from the EV rebate was about "Trump-proofing our economy" and a "commitment to be elbows up."

The head of the Manitoba Electric Vehicle Association stood by the Kinew government's decision amid escalating trade tensions with the U.S.

Manitoba did so after B.C. made a similar move.

In a letter to the province last week warning of the impending legal action, Tesla said it won a 2018 legal case against the Ontario government for similarly excluding the company from its provincial EV rebate program.

With files from Kristin Annable and Bryce Hoye