A federal grant program that offers homeowners money to make their homes more energy efficient is running out of money faster than anticipated — alarming homeowners and industry stakeholders who fear the program might end earlier than expected.
Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson confirmed the program is spending its allocated budget quickly because of high demand for home retrofit grants. He stopped short of saying Natural Resources Canada (NRCAN) could abruptly close applications and suggested the program could be extended.
“Yes, we’ve actually started to exhaust the funds earlier than what we had anticipated, and that’s largely a function of the popularity of the program,” Wilkinson said.
The Greener Homes Grant program, launched by the federal government in 2021, provides homeowners with up to $5,000 for energy efficiency retrofits and home energy evaluations and up to $600 to help with the cost of home energy evaluations.
Homeowners must spend the money upfront and then be reimbursed. The $2.6 billion program was supposed to last until 2028, but some suggest the money will run out in 2024.
Diana Birsan thought she had until 2028 to apply. She said she has been delaying committing to renovations and signing up for the program as she juggles mortgage payments on her new Ottawa home.
“So it’s a shock to me,” Birsan said when CBC told her the program is burning through cash faster than planned.
Birsan said she hoped the program would help her replace her gas furnace with a heat pump and swap out her leaky windows. Birsan said that if the program is cancelled, she and her partner may have to invest in a fossil fuel heating system.
“It would be such a shame because I would love to be more environmentally friendly,” Birsan said. “But it does come down to what can I afford, what’s possible with the money that we have.”
She called on Ottawa to extend the program, given the large number of Canadians struggling with the cost of living.
WATCH | Ottawa resident shows CBC some needed home improvements
Ottawa homeowner hopes Ottawa extends Greener Homes Grant
13 hours ago
Duration 1:23
Featured VideoOttawa homeowner Diana Birsan shows CBC the windows in her older home she hopes to replace with the help of a Greener Homes Grant. But the federal grant program is running out of money faster than anticipated. Birsan said she hopes the federal government extends the program.
Natural Resources Canada says more than 124,000 applicants have received funding through the national portal or co-delivery partners in Quebec, Ontario and Nova Scotia. The department has paid out over $450 million from the $2.6 billion budgeted for the program.
Wilkinson said heat pumps are the most popular retrofit funded by the program so far.
He left the door open to topping up the program with new funds in the next federal budget.
“We have a certain budgetary envelope. We have to exhaust or utilize that envelope before we can ask the minister of finance for additional money,” Wilkinson said.
“Typically, the budgets happen in March or in April, but at this stage, we have money for some number of months to be able actually to continue to accept applications.”
‘Significant havoc in the sector’
Brent Kopperson, executive director of Durham’s Windfall Ecology Centre, said one of his staff members attended a meeting in November with NRCAN officials and was warned the program could wind down soon.
Kopperson said the program’s current plight feels like déjà vu. He pointed out that the previous federal government pulled the plug on a similarly popular ecoEnergy home retrofit program in 2012.
Kopperson said that retrofit program led to the emergence of new firms specializing in decarbonizing homes. History could repeat itself, he warned.
“We are in a climate emergency and we can’t be putting our feet on the brakes. We need to really be accelerating the program,” he said. “So to end this program prematurely without an immediate replacement would cause significant havoc in the sector.”
WATCH | What ending the Greener Homes Grant could mean for the energy efficiency industry
Cancelling the Greener Homes Grant program would be a ‘big change’ for energy auditors
12 hours ago
Duration 2:32
Featured VideoDylan Trebles trained to help people with their home energy retrofits. The 30-year-old left his corporate tech desk job hoping to become part of an army of registered energy auditors.
Dylan Trebles was one of the trainees who went through the NRCAN program. The 30-year-old left his corporate tech job hoping to become part of an army of registered energy auditors. Trebles calls himself a “climate quitter” who took a pay cut and joined a movement to decarbonize homes and electrify them.
Dylan Trebles is an Ottawa based registered energy auditor. Here he demonstrates how he assesses the energy efficiency of homes. (David Thurton/CBC)
Greenhouse gas emissions from buildings accounted for 13 per cent of Canada’s total emissions in 2021 — about 87 megatonnes — making it the third-highest source of emissions after oil and gas production and transportation. Canada has vowed in its emissions reduction plan to slash emissions from buildings by 37 per cent by 2030 and achieve net zero by 2050.
World leaders will meet at the annual climate conference in Dubai this month. We want to know what questions you have about COP 28. Send an email toask@cbc.ca
Trebles said that if the Greener Homes program abruptly ends, he may not be able to continue his work.
“I’ve been doing this about a year now. And so to have the rug pulled out a little bit … We knew this program was going to end at some point, but it feels a little soon,” he said.
Others connected to the energy efficiency industry urge Ottawa to refrain from interrupting growth in a nascent clean tech sector that includes registered energy auditors and heat pump installers.
“All these people who entered into this sector with the hopes of a better career and livelihoods, I worry that this kind of start-and-stop funding cycles could put their livelihoods at risk,” said Abhilash Kantamneni, a research manager at Carleton University’s advocacy and research centre Efficiency Canada.
He called on the government to commit early to extending the program, and to other supports that could help all Canadians boost their homes’ energy efficiency.
“What the government should be doing is to signal an intention for long-term policy commitment and policy certainty … as a way to … get to our climate goals and [do] so in a way that leaves no one behind,” Kantamneni said.
Human Resources Officers must be very busy these days what with the general turnover of employees in our retail and business sectors. It is hard enough to find skilled people let alone potential employees willing to be trained. Then after the training, a few weeks go by then they come to you and ask for a raise. You refuse as there simply is no excess money in the budget and away they fly to wherever they come from, trained but not willing to put in the time to achieve that wanted raise.
I have had potentials come in and we give them a test to see if they do indeed know how to weld, polish or work with wood. 2-10 we hire, and one of those is gone in a week or two. Ask that they want overtime, and their laughter leaving the building is loud and unsettling. Housing starts are doing well but way behind because those trades needed to finish a project simply don’t come to the site, with delay after delay. Some people’s attitudes are just too funny. A recent graduate from a Ivy League university came in for an interview. The position was mid-management potential, but when we told them a three month period was needed and then they would make the big bucks they disappeared as fast as they arrived.
Government agencies are really no help, sending us people unsuited or unwilling to carry out the jobs we offer. Handing money over to staffing firms whose referrals are weak and ineffectual. Perhaps with the Fall and Winter upon us, these folks will have to find work and stop playing on the golf course or cottaging away. Tried to hire new arrivals in Canada but it is truly difficult to find someone who has a real identity card and is approved to live and work here. Who do we hire? Several years ago my father’s firm was rocking and rolling with all sorts of work. It was a summer day when the immigration officers arrived and 30+ employees hit the bricks almost immediately. The investigation that followed had threats of fines thrown at us by the officials. Good thing we kept excellent records, photos and digital copies. We had to prove the illegal documents given to us were as good as the real McCoy.
Restauranteurs, builders, manufacturers, finishers, trades-based firms, and warehousing are all suspect in hiring illegals, yet that becomes secondary as Toronto increases its minimum wage again bringing our payroll up another $120,000. Survival in Canada’s financial and business sectors is questionable for many. Good luck Chuck!. at least your carbon tax refund check should be arriving soon.
NORMAN WELLS, N.W.T. – Imperial Oil says it will temporarily reduce its fuel prices in a Northwest Territories community that has seen costs skyrocket due to low water on the Mackenzie River forcing the cancellation of the summer barge resupply season.
Imperial says in a Facebook post it will cut the air transportation portion that’s included in its wholesale price in Norman Wells for diesel fuel, or heating oil, from $3.38 per litre to $1.69 per litre, starting Tuesday.
The air transportation increase, it further states, will be implemented over a longer period.
It says Imperial is closely monitoring how much fuel needs to be airlifted to the Norman Wells area to prevent runouts until the winter road season begins and supplies can be replenished.
Gasoline and heating fuel prices approached $5 a litre at the start of this month.
Norman Wells’ town council declared a local emergency on humanitarian grounds last week as some of its 700 residents said they were facing monthly fuel bills coming to more than $5,000.
“The wholesale price increase that Imperial has applied is strictly to cover the air transportation costs. There is no Imperial profit margin included on the wholesale price. Imperial does not set prices at the retail level,” Imperial’s statement on Monday said.
The statement further said Imperial is working closely with the Northwest Territories government on ways to help residents in the near term.
“Imperial Oil’s decision to lower the price of home heating fuel offers immediate relief to residents facing financial pressures. This step reflects a swift response by Imperial Oil to discussions with the GNWT and will help ease short-term financial burdens on residents,” Caroline Wawzonek, Deputy Premier and Minister of Finance and Infrastructure, said in a news release Monday.
Wawzonek also noted the Territories government has supported the community with implementation of a fund supporting businesses and communities impacted by barge cancellations. She said there have also been increases to the Senior Home Heating Subsidy in Norman Wells, and continued support for heating costs for eligible Income Assistance recipients.
Additionally, she said the government has donated $150,000 to the Norman Wells food bank.
In its declaration of a state of emergency, the town said the mayor and council recognized the recent hike in fuel prices has strained household budgets, raised transportation costs, and affected local businesses.
It added that for the next three months, water and sewer service fees will be waived for all residents and businesses.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2024.
TORONTO – A new report says many Canadian business leaders are worried about economic uncertainties related to the looming U.S. election.
The survey by KPMG in Canada of 735 small- and medium-sized businesses says 87 per cent fear the Canadian economy could become “collateral damage” from American protectionist policies that lead to less favourable trade deals and increased tariffs
It says that due to those concerns, 85 per cent of business leaders in Canada polled are reviewing their business strategies to prepare for a change in leadership.
The concerns are primarily being felt by larger Canadian companies and sectors that are highly integrated with the U.S. economy, such as manufacturing, automotive, transportation and warehousing, energy and natural resources, as well as technology, media and telecommunications.
Shaira Nanji, a KPMG Law partner in its tax practice, says the prospect of further changes to economic and trade policies in the U.S. means some Canadian firms will need to look for ways to mitigate added costs and take advantage of potential trade relief provisions to remain competitive.
Both presidential candidates have campaigned on protectionist policies that could cause uncertainty for Canadian trade, and whoever takes the White House will be in charge during the review of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement in 2026.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 22, 2024.
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