OTTAWA
-- Not only has the Harper Conservatives terminated a highly popular energy
efficiency program, but they are dropping the guillotine even earlier than
planned, a move that has the Greens seeing red. “The ecoEnergy program
represents low-hanging fruit in terms of investment to greenhouse gas
reductions. It should be continued indefinitely and expanded. It
creates jobs, it helps working families reduce their heating bills; it is
really a great program. Cutting it was a mistake but now announcing that
it will end two months earlier than planned is really an insult to all who work
in the retrofit industry,” said Green Leader Elizabeth May, MP for Saanich-Gulf
Islands.
Natural
Resources Minister Joe Oliver announced a sudden closing of the ecoEnergy
Retrofit - Homes program on Sunday, January 29, two months before expected, and
has limited what is left of the program to 250,000 registered homeowners.
Representatives of the Save ecoEnergy Coalition are crying foul, saying that
Prime Minister Harper has broken his budget promise to invest $400 million into
the program. With the registration capped, the investment will be less
than half of what was promised.
“We
should be maximizing this program, not incapacitating it,” said May. “Investing
in energy efficiency and providing small grants to home owners is economic
stimulus that actually works, not to mention the benefits to the environment.”
Home
retrofit incentive programs have been shown to generate double the tax revenue
for every dollar invested in homeowner grants. The Green Party of Canada has
proposed increasing the home energy retrofit grants by 50% and introducing
programs for low income housing, municipalities, universities, schools and
hospitals.
“Now
that they have shamed Canada by severing our involvement in the Kyoto Protocol,
the Harper Conservatives are going full force into gutting Canada’s
environmental programs and regulations. This latest salvo reinforces that
this government is truly out of step with the rest of the world and with what
Canadians want for their country,” said May.
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Media Contact:
Rebecca Harrison
media@greenparty.ca
613-614-4916