SoVote

Context: House Hansard - 267 - Dec/13/23

Mr. Mike Morrice (Kitchener Centre, GP)

Dec/13/23 3:24:20 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, despite climate negotiations being captured by fossil fuel interests, countries just agreed at COP28 to transition away from fossil fuels. Nonetheless, back at home, the government continues to do the opposite, wasting over $1,200 on behalf of each and every Canadian taxpayer to expand the TMX pipeline, and increasing oil production to record levels. Why is it that the PM cannot find the money to ensure that we end legislated poverty for people with disabilities, but has tens of billions of dollars for a leaky pipeline?

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Context: House Hansard - 267 - Dec/13/23

Mr. Mike Morrice

Dec/13/23 4:20:18 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I wonder if we could seek the House's unanimous consent. It sounds like there are three petitions that are particularly timely, one from the member for South Okanagan—West Kootenay, one from the member for Courtenay—Alberni and one from the member for Skeena—Bulkley Valley. I wonder if the House might consent to hear those three particularly timely petitions.

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Context: House Hansard - 267 - Dec/13/23

Mr. Mike Morrice (Kitchener Centre, GP)

Dec/13/23 7:00:11 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am glad to be back again tonight, this time to raise the alarm on the need for the government, not only to replenish but also to expand the greener homes grant program. I would like to start with where I expect the parliamentary secretary and I agree, which is that this is a critical program. Launched in May 2021, it provides up to $5,000 in grants to homeowners for specific upgrades, starting with a home energy evaluation, then completing a retrofit and then a post-retrofit evaluation. These evaluations are done by charities in the green communities Canada network, like REEP Green Solutions in the Waterloo region. These incentives are kind of like the climate action no-brainer. They save homeowners money, they reduce emissions, they create good green jobs in completing the retrofits and they actually pay for themselves, returning $2 to $5 for every dollar invested through increased revenue from taxation. They have begun to work. In 2020, homeowners across the country completed almost 32,000 retrofits and once the program was launched that went up to almost 112,000. This is where the issues begin. First of all, the program itself only planned to do 700,000 retrofits, far too slowly, over seven years. At this slow pace it would take more than a century to retrofit the more than 11 million homes in Canada that require retrofits. Worse still, in its current form, the program only saw greenhouse gas reduction increases from 22% before the program existed to 26% afterward. Worse still, and the reason I asked about this in question period a few weeks ago, is that the CBC is reporting that the program is running out of money three years too early. Organizations like REEP have been here before, three times in the past, having to wind down popular energy efficiency incentive programs like the greener homes grant program. Here is what we need and what I am going to continue to advocate for. First, we need sustained, predictable funding for retrofits, a clear continuation of the greener homes grant program, which the government could do by putting funds in place in budget 2024. Second, we need the program to keep up with inflation. The greener homes grant program is modelled after a similar program that was put in place by the Harper government called ecoENERGY back in 2007. It also provided $5,000 with, of course, huge differences between then and now when it comes to the cost of completing retrofits. Third, and most importantly, we need to see a boost to the program for deep retrofits to get at least 50% energy savings through insulation, thermal efficiencies of one's home through electrifying and I know there is an excellent program in place for heat pumps, for example, and then possibly adding solar on top. In other jurisdictions, for example in Ireland and Germany, grants can be up to $50,000. The green budget coalition, lucky for us, has already priced it out. It would be $20 billion over five years to do it. Where could we possibly find that money? I put forward a motion that prices out what we could generate just by having a windfall profit tax on the oil and gas companies that are gouging us at the pumps. It is just over the exact same amount. It is $4 billion a year. $4.2 billion, in fact, just by applying the Canada recovery dividend to big oil. My question to the parliamentary secretary is this. Will the government, first of all, commit to continuing the greener homes grant program? Will the government expand it to focus on deep energy—

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Context: House Hansard - 267 - Dec/13/23

Mr. Mike Morrice

Dec/13/23 7:07:09 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am a bit concerned. The parliamentary secretary spent so much time talking about other programs this government has in place. It concerns me that I am not hearing a commitment to continue the bare minimum. Home energy retrofits need to be incentivized by the federal government. Even the Conservatives were doing it about 20 years ago. We need to see this government commit to continue the greener homes grant program, so that homeowners can count on this funding, to continue to do really critical work to retrofit their homes. If Liberals are looking to be climate leaders, they should recapitalize it at a rate that would actually allow for deep energy retrofits that return more back to our economy than folks would spend. Are they going to do it?

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