"in 2015 we provided $3.3 billion in subsidies to the Oil and Gas Industry"
Considering the amount of taxes collected from the industry as a whole , it is a investment.
 Ontario residents alone paid $6.8 billion in federal and provincial taxes. Canadians as a whole paid over $16.6 billion in gasoline taxes, in 2014 In Alberta , over $8 billion in royalties was collected in 2014/15. The oil patch is nothing but a cash cow for governments .
see: 17th Annual Gas Tax Honesty Reports page 18 Canadian Taxpayers Federation May 14th, 2015 @ http://www.taxpayer.com/media/GTHD-Report-2015.pdf see: http://www.energy.alberta.ca/Org/pdfs/FS_Royalties.pdf 
The Bolt or Volt would not sell without the rebate.The size of the EV market only exists because of the subsidies.
"I am not advocating whether rebates are good or not (I lean towards them being good)"
Sure you do , you are getting a direct benefit from this one.For what? a" empty virtue-signaling gesture,"