On March 31, the federal government decided to suspend the Government of Canada ecoENERGY Retrofit Rebate program. While the federal government maintains the program is merely suspended for further review, the opposition has declared the program cancelled completely.
The Conservative government has said the program is merely suspended and under review. On Thursday, Natural Resources Minister Christian Paradis actually said, “it’s not cancelled”.
“In a desperate attempt to free up money that would allow them to cover up their waste, the Conservatives are cutting the best environmental program we’ve got.” said Liberal MP David McGuinty during question period.
The federal ecoEnergy Retrofit program was one of three programs that would provide homeowners with grants and rebates of up to $11,000: $5,000 from the federal program, $5,000 from the provincial Ontario Home Energy Savings Program and $1,000 from the Home Energy Assistance Toronto Program.
The way the federal program worked was homeowners would undergo a home energy audit that would entitle them to the various grants and rebates they were eligible for if they completed the renovations. While homeowners originally had until March 31, 2011 to apply for their grants and rebates, because of the cancellation the program will no longer accept bookings for the audits as of March 31, the night of the announcement.
The success of the program may have well been its own demise, as the Globe and Mail had quoted McGuinty as saying the demand for the program had tripled since it was introduced. Over $300 million was budgeted for the program, but it’s speculated that this limit has already been reached.
The other provincial programs across the country, including the Ontario Home Energy Savings program and other municipal programs such as the Home Energy Assistance Toronto program will be continuing, making homeowners in the Greater Toronto Area still eligible for up to $6,000 in the GTA when they renovate their homes with energy-efficiency in mind.
