Earlier today, Marc Garneau, the Liberal Minister of Transportation, tweeted a photo of himself charging his electric vehicle presumably in response to the pump-now campaign put forward by Conservatives nationwide.

The pump-now efforts have been used by provincial and federal Conservatives as gas prices continue to skyrocket nationwide.

In Vancouver for example some pumps have hit above 171.9 per litre today.

In his tweet, Mr. Garneau states “Hey [Andrew Scheer] – am I doing this right?”

Mr. Garneau’s response was quickly ratioed, with users pointing out that many cannot afford to use electric vehicles.

The cheapest Tesla starts at $39,000.

That is perhaps cheap for someone like the Minister which makes over a quarter of a million through his government salary alone, but it is certainly not in the affordable range for a large portion of Canadians.

Especially when you factor in that “nearly half of all Canadians say it has grown more difficult to afford to put food on the table over the last 12 months”, according to a recently released poll by Angus Reid.

Many also pointed out the problems with using electric cars in Canada, notably their inability to work well in -30 Celsius weather, as well as the drastic charge times.

It can take multiple hours to charge an electric car if you find yourself without a supercharger, something I suspect would occur regularly for working-class Canadians who actually who don’t live in Canada’s core cities.

It also produces a larger well-to-wheels CO2 footprint than a Toyota Camry Hybrid.

With respect to Canada’s space program and to Minister Garneau, his three trips into orbit would have contributed as much carbon into the atmosphere as about 14 years of driving. Yet, middle-class Canadians are being asked to pay more to drive to work, to have their produce delivered to their grocery stores, and for just about everything else.

What do you think about the minister’s tweet? Did he score an own goal? Join the conversation by commenting below!