44th Parl. 1st Sess.
November 7, 2023 10:00AM
- Nov/7/23 12:06:54 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his generous question and for helping me answer it, because he supplied half the response before giving me the floor.
Indeed, Quebec has always been a leader. We saw that with child care. It took 25 years for Canada to get on board. I hope that Canada will get on board when it comes to energy as well.
Quebec helps people install more efficient heating systems, such as heat pumps, through the Rénoclimat program. A preliminary assessment is done of the homes. It is all well regulated. The program is geared to people who need help the most.
What could Canada recognize about Quebec? It could recognize the way we want to live and run our own affairs. Maybe it should just let us be. It may have better luck that way, if it wants to keep us. For now, what we want is to run our own affairs.
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- Nov/7/23 12:17:59 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I want to go back to yesterday's motion. I think today's motion reflects, in good part, what took place with the vote yesterday.
One thing that is getting lost in this debate is the issue of the environment and the valuable role that heat pumps will play going forward. It is easy to say that we should get rid of this tax or that tax and so forth, but it overshadows the importance of good, solid government policy on heat pumps. Could the member share his thoughts on that?
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- Nov/7/23 12:18:43 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as always, the question from my colleague opposite is relevant.
I have not taken a position against the tax. I do not want to leave any room for confusion here. I also did not say that heat pumps are useless. I said that heat pumps still need financing and that the tax, in its current form, will not be affected by a goods and services tax reduction. I therefore did not take a position on whether the tax is relevant or not, but rather on the measure used to mitigate its impact.
I do not believe it will achieve the desired effect.
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- Nov/7/23 1:24:04 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is always a pleasure to rise on behalf of the people from Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo.
The member spoke at length about heat pumps. Can he please tell this House, in 10 or 15 seconds, how heat pumps work in, say, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba?
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- Nov/7/23 2:56:29 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I do want to thank my colleague from Yukon for his tireless advocacy for his constituents.
Heat pumps have been well-tested and adopted in northern climates for years. That is why we are working to deploy more cold climate heat pumps across the territory to reduce ongoing energy bills and to reduce emissions. In fact, heating oil actually serves over 50% of the population in Yukon, making it a pressing issue of affordability and climate.
I had a conversation recently with the Premier of Yukon. He is extremely interested in moving forward on a joint delivery, and I expect we will have good things to say very soon.
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- Nov/7/23 3:11:39 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for her question.
As we know, oil is the dirtiest and most expensive form of heating. Moreover, it has seen the biggest price jump over the past year. Obviously, that is because of everything that is happening on the world markets.
Our heat pump program aims to save every family that installs a heat pump $2,500, on average, across the country. We are working with the provinces so we can roll out this program as quickly as possible to eliminate oil heating across the country.
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- Nov/7/23 3:13:03 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as I have said a number of times, this is a policy that is about addressing affordability for folks who are suffering from the fact that heating oil is a much more expensive way to heat their homes. We will use it in a manner that will enable us to continue the fight against climate change and help folks in the long term with affordability concerns.
I would tell the member that we have had discussions with the Government of Manitoba. I look forward to being able to move forward on a joint basis with the Government of Manitoba. I am pleased to see the government in Manitoba actually recognizing the existence of climate change, something the opposition does not do.
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