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Energy-saving programs lose funding
Last Updated Fri, 05 May 2006 22:37:27 EDT
CBC News
Department of Finance officials are confirming that a whole new list of environmental programs are losing their funding as a result of this week's federal budget.
Among the best known is the Energuide program, in which Canadians who have their homes renovated to save energy can qualify for a federal grant of several thousand dollars.
About 300,000 people have used the program since its start in the late 1990s.
A home retrofitted under the program cuts its energy use by an average of 30 per cent.
But Energuide has had its budget slashed by $227 million over the next five years. Groups that run the program say it will be a shadow of its former self and a lot fewer people will be able to take advantage of it
There's also a similar Energuide program for low-income households. Its entire budget of more than $550 million is cut, meaning that program is now gone.
Four other environmental programs have lost most, or all, of their funding. They include everything from money to develop new kinds of renewable energy, to a program to help people switch to more efficient furnaces.
The cuts add up to just under $1 billion over the next five years.
The federal departments that run the programs have refused to comment. They simply say the government is developing its own environmental plan, which will be announced later this year.
Last Updated Fri, 05 May 2006 22:37:27 EDT
CBC News
Department of Finance officials are confirming that a whole new list of environmental programs are losing their funding as a result of this week's federal budget.
Among the best known is the Energuide program, in which Canadians who have their homes renovated to save energy can qualify for a federal grant of several thousand dollars.
About 300,000 people have used the program since its start in the late 1990s.
A home retrofitted under the program cuts its energy use by an average of 30 per cent.
But Energuide has had its budget slashed by $227 million over the next five years. Groups that run the program say it will be a shadow of its former self and a lot fewer people will be able to take advantage of it
There's also a similar Energuide program for low-income households. Its entire budget of more than $550 million is cut, meaning that program is now gone.
Four other environmental programs have lost most, or all, of their funding. They include everything from money to develop new kinds of renewable energy, to a program to help people switch to more efficient furnaces.
The cuts add up to just under $1 billion over the next five years.
The federal departments that run the programs have refused to comment. They simply say the government is developing its own environmental plan, which will be announced later this year.