Ontario asks court to toss application from Tesla over electric rebates

TORONTO — Ontario’s Progressive Conservative government has asked the province’s Superior Court to throw out a petition from the Canadian arm of Tesla Inc. that claims the U.S. company has been treated unfairly in the government’s cancellation of an electric vehicle rebate program.

The provincial government’s ministry of transportation said in a response filed Tuesday that there is no merit to the electric carmaker’s application for judicial review, arguing the decision is government policy that does not fall within the court’s jurisdiction.

“While framed as a judicial review of an ostensibly administrative decision, the application is essentially an attack on a core policy decision made by Ontario’s cabinet,” it said in the court filing.

“Such a decision is not reviewable by the court and is not a basis to quash the decision.”

In July, the government announced the cancellation of the rebate program but said that incentives would be honoured for vehicles ordered through a dealership if they are delivered and registered by Sept. 10.

Tesla sells vehicles directly to customers rather than through a dealership, making its vehicles ineligible for the incentives.

Tesla Motors of Canada said in its application that the decision by Premier Doug Ford’s government to halt the program left hundreds of its customers no longer eligible for rebates they expected to get when they ordered their vehicles.