the Walnut Diary

Justin:

This is a fine article except that, like every other journalist I have read, you do not tell the correct story of the three-year eco tax holiday on home heating fuel for rural residents of the maritimes, and then Ontario and points west, I believe. The prevailing narrative is that Trudeau caved to the polls and tried to buy back some votes. Please allow me to offer a counterpoint.

When I emailed the office of Minister Terry Beech, an old friend, and chuckled about the $89 saving on each oil bill since the program began, his communications guy was quick to point out that this is a three-year holiday to make it easier for Canadians to get a heat pump installed. It had never occurred to me that a heat pump would have a place in the heating of a 200 year old stone house, but on the strength of this comment I inquired of a local contractor and he explained that our house is in fact well situated for an installation. He provided a quote which was reasonable, but my accountant just laughed when I asked about the government program to fund the heating upgrades. On the other hand, I was in the process of selling my fourteen-year-old fishing boat and the proceeds from one more than paid the cost of the other.

If not for the holiday on the levy on fuel oil I would never have considered the heat pump which has produced immediate benefits for life in our house. I’m told we’ll still run the oil furnace in February, and it would require several years (or one unwanted boat) to offset the financial outlay, but of course we are saving the environment a little bit and keeping ourselves cool in summer, which is a real benefit to our health as we grow older, and there is more space in the shed with the boat gone.