SoVote

Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 267

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
December 13, 2023 02:00PM
Context: House Hansard - 267 - Dec/13/23
Mr. Mike Morrice (Kitchener Centre, GP)
  • Dec/13/23 7:00:11 p.m.
  • Watch
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—
617 words
  • Hear!
  • Rabble!
  • star_border