ecoEnergy Retrofit Program needs some retrofitting of its own

Submitted by
Ken Boshcoff M.P.

A recent Toronto Star investigation has raised some serious concerns about the efficiency of the ecoEnergy Retrofit Program. The report found significant discrepancies between the energy audit recommendations provided by four different firms in the Toronto area. The audits called for renovations ranging from $3,000 to $25,000 on the same Toronto house. “That means homeowners could spend big money on ill-advised retrofits and waste as much as $10,000 in grant money from the federal and provincial governments,” says the Toronto Star.
The Conservative government has completely botched the home retrofit program formerly known as Energuide, and is on track to waste millions of taxpayer dollars. Under the Liberal government, the Energuide program was funding tens of thousands of home retrofits, and the Environment Commissioner rated the program as one of the most efficient at Natural Resources Canada.
Under the Liberal Energuide program, expert audits were used to determine what work had to be done, how much money a homeowner was eligible for, and whether the homeowner received the grant. Every home underwent inspections with properly trained and certified inspectors both before and after any renovation was completed. This highly efficient and well-subscribed program was cancelled in May 2006 by Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn, who claimed that the program was overburdened by “administrative costs”.
After intense pressure from Canadians across the country and Liberals in the House of Commons, Minister Lunn announced the ecoEnergy Retrofit Program, but with less than half the budget, the elimination of funding for post-renovation expert audits, and the lack of any initiatives for seniors and low income families. The ecoEnergy program provides only $37 million per year for residential retrofits whereas the Liberal EnerGuide for Houses program provided $89 million per year plus an additional $100 million per year specifically for low income households. The government has stopped funding expert audits and now homeowners are getting fleeced by unqualified contractors and taxpayers are being ripped off by a mismanaged program.
Once again we see that time and money is being wasted with the reintroduction of pale imitations of successful Liberal programs that were cancelled by the Harper Government. The current ecoEnergy program is a political facade rather than an efficient tool to fight climate change. The government must immediately reinstate the Energuide program, before millions more dollars are washed away.