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News
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Reid encourages government to reconsider heating rebate
program October 25, 2005
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Opposition Leader Gerry Reid is encouraging Finance Minister Loyola Sullivan
to reconsider government’s heating rebate program to include low income
electricity users and the removal of the HST from both home heating fuel and
electricity. Reid says this will ensure that everyone in the province gets a
small bit of relief from the high cost of heating a home this winter. "Since government announced their program on Friday, our office has been bombarded with calls from unhappy people who will not qualify for a rebate," said Mr. Reid. "While many of these callers were low income electricity users, there were also a large number of people who make more than $30,000 a year and feel they are literally being left out in the cold by this government. "It is quite obvious that this rebate program was not well-planned. With the hundreds of extra millions of dollars government is receiving from increased energy prices, it is unacceptable that they will only reinvest a maximum of $9 million back into the people of the province. They will continue to charge the HST on home heating fuel and electricity, a tax that has increased dramatically as the price of oil and electricity has increased; a tax that is taking millions of dollars from the pockets of the people of the province. If this was a government that wanted to help everyone in the province this year, a good start would be removing the HST from these energy costs. "Minister Sullivan continues to use excuses as to why government is not willing to help electricity users. He should ask electricity users whether they feel increases in their heating costs are having any less of an impact as those using home heating fuel. He also continues to deflect any criticism about charging the HST. While the minister tries to convince people that government is not charging tax on fuel, he knows full well that more revenues are being collected through the HST. "There is so much more that could be done to help the people of the province deal with the high price of energy this winter. Unfortunately, this government is satisfied to launch a public relations campaign to sell a bad program instead of fixing the problems. Winter is only weeks away, but there is still time to correct these problems. I encourage Minister Sullivan to immediately begin the process of amending this program to include electricity users and do something to remove the burden of increased HST tax payments during the colder months that lie ahead. This will ensure that a fair program is in place that will provide relief to everyone." |
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