From LifeSiteNews

By Anthony Murdoch

A recent Inquiry Of Ministry tabled in the House of Commons showed that only 80 homeowners have thus far installed a heat pump through the Trudeau government’s anti-oil ‘green’ program.

A Canadian federal government “green” program offering homeowners government money to switch their reliable heating oil furnaces for less reliable electric heat pumps has been a dismal failure, according to recently released records. 

A recent Inquiry Of Ministry, as per Blacklock’s Reporter, tabled in the House of Commons showed that only 80 homeowners have thus far opted into Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government heat pump program. 

Conservative Party of Canada MP Shannon Stubbs had requested from the federal government, in her Inquiry Of Ministry, an answer to the question, “How many applications for funding through the Oil To Heat Pump Affordability Program have been received?” 

The original scheme was to allow $10,000 to eligible homeowners to convert from their oil-fired furnaces to an electric heat pump. Trudeau’s cabinet last October expanded the grants to $15,000 along with a $250 “one-time bonus payment.”   

Cabinet wrote in the Inquiry Of Ministry that the purchase and “installation of a new electric cold climate heat pump, save thousands of dollars annually on heating bills and help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”  

In total, some 286,000 Atlantic Canadians currently use furnaces fired by heating oil, and since the original program was introduced in February of last year, of 1,241 homeowners who asked for a subsidy, some 361 were denied, a rejection rate of 29 percent.

The Inquiry confirmed that only 80 oil-fired furnaces have been replaced by heat pumps nationwide.  

Last month, LifeSiteNews reported that the “green” heat pump program is set to cost nearly four times as much as originally thought, from $750 million to $2.7 billion.   

In October of last year, amid dismal polling numbers that showed his government would be defeated in a landslide by the Conservative Party come the next election, Trudeau announced he was pausing the collection of the carbon tax on home heating oil in Atlantic Canadian provinces for three years.  

The carbon tax break came at the same time Trudeau’s own polling shows that for the Liberals to hold onto their 24 seats in Atlantic Canada, a carbon tax break would help their polling numbers, as most people in the area oppose the tax.  

However, Trudeau refused to offer carbon tax relief to other provinces, such as Alberta and Saskatchewan, for natural gas. This led to Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe announcing his government would defy the Trudeau government, and stop collecting the federal carbon tax on natural gas in this province, as of Jan 1, 2024.   

The Trudeau government is trying to force net-zero regulations on all Canadian provinces, notably on electricity generation, as early as 2035. His government has also refused to extend a carbon tax exemption on heating fuels to all provinces, allowing only Atlantic provinces, this benefit.