NEW – NS: CPA reinforces propane advantage with newly elected government

The Progressive Conservatives won the Nova Scotia provincial election on August 17, 2021, and the CPA did not waste any time getting in contact with the new government.

The CPA sent letters to new Premier Tim Houston, ministers of climate change and environment, energy and natural resources, public works (responsible for transportation) and municipal affairs and housing.

In the letters, the CPA reinforced the fact that propane should be part of switch-off oil rebate programs that would significantly reduce GHG emissions for residential consumers and encourage furnace and appliance upgrades.

The province of New Brunswick provides a great example with its Total Energy Savings Program for residential, commercial and industrial applications. It provides incentives to switch from carbon intense heating oil to low-emission energy sources such as propane. In Prince Edward Island, Energy PEI supports the reduction of GHGs by replacing oil boilers and furnaces to ones powered by propane through rebates.

The CPA also proposed that the province should collaborate with the propane industry to incentivize businesses, institutions, manufacturers, farmers and industries to reduce both their energy costs and GHGs by switching from furnace oil to propane. Citing the success of the new fleet of propane school buses now in service in Halifax, the province should focus as well on measures that would see propane used for government and private fleets.

The CPA also invited the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Tim Halman, to attend the next Atlantic Committee meeting in Halifax on Thursday October 14, 2021. A round table discussion with the minister to discuss the advantage of propane and the opportunities that propane could bring to the province of Nova Scotia is on the agenda.