First Ottawa ended green renovation grants. Then they axed EV rebates. The federal government later cancelled the carbon tax. After that, Prime Minister Mark Carney suspended the EV sales mandate. Now he's cutting off zero-interest loans for green renovations.
On Wednesday, Natural Resources Canada announced the Greener Homes Loan, which provided homeowners with up to $40,000 in zero-interest financing for green renovations, will end on Oct. 1.
The loan has driven the uptake in heat pumps, which can cut the carbon emissions from a home by 70-90 per cent, providing financing for more than 255,000 of them. It also supported the addition of insulation, replacement of windows and doors and rooftop solar panels.
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The ending of the loans will undoubtedly have an impact on Canada's efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, said Brendan Haley, senior director of policy strategy at Efficiency Canada.
"The Greener Home Loan Program was the principal way the federal government supported middle-income Canadians in reducing their energy costs and reducing their greenhouse gas emissions," he said. "When the Greener Homes Grant was cancelled, the promise was that the loan would be the principal avenue for energy retrofits."
Now that it's gone, "I don't know what's going to be left of (Ottawa's) climate agenda," Haley added.
Efficiency Canada calculated that the program helped retrofit about two per cent of Canadian households. "That is a good start. But I don't see how that should be the end of a policy when we really need to retrofit almost all the housing stock to grapple with climate change," he said.
Natural Resources Canada, which administers the program, did not respond to a request for comment.
Because heat pumps come with a higher up-front price tag than furnaces, HVAC professionals say government programs have been key in helping homeowners make the switch. Without the government loans, folks might be less likely to get a heat pump.
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"When I talk to homeowners, this was the government program that excited them the most," said Jake Miller, executive director of Toronto Home Retrofits, a community organization that connects neighbours with neighbours to accelerate the energy transition.
"It was a really well-sized loan that got you any size of heat pump you needed and allowed you to do other building envelope improvements," he said. "I'm sorry to see it go."
Sarah Grant, a registered energy advisor with Goldfinch Energy, said she doesn't expect heat pump uptake to be affected since they are already cost-competitive with furnaces and are still covered by municipal and provincial programs.
"This is more likely to affect all the other retrofits that people were doing when they got their heat pump," she said. "The industry that will be affected the most will be rooftop solar."
Efficiency Canada's Haley noted that support for home retrofits was mentioned both in the Liberal Party platform and highlighted in Carney's book, "Values," so he is surprised it's being cast aside.
"This is a program that reduces emissions. It helps with affordability. It creates skilled trade jobs. It is a loan, so it is a relatively small final cost to the government," he said.
"Energy efficiency is a very made-in-Canada solution. And when we're looking for solutions that increase our self-reliance, saving energy is a great way to not have to import things like fossil fuels from other nations. Insulation is manufactured locally. Smart thermostats are produced by Canadian companies. HVAC equipment is designed and manufactured in Canada. So actually, this is a way to support a more made-in-Canada economy."