Mark Carney's announcement on Friday that implementation of the federal government's zero-emission vehicle mandate will be delayed by at least a year can be read as another retreat on climate policy from the new prime minister.

It can also be read as a small victory for Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, who had been calling on the government to abandon the policy .

That was certainly Poilievre's own reading of events.

"Today he's flip-flopped.… He's finally admitted that the Conservatives were right, just like we were right on the carbon tax," Poilievre told reporters on Parliament Hill.

But, the Conservative leader lamented, it was a "clumsy retreat," because the prime minister was merely promising to "delay" the mandate.

"Mark Carney can't even get his flip-flops right," Poi

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