![\"Shaw](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/passive-house-retrofit-Shaw-TVYouTube.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Shaw TV\/YouTube<\/p>\n
As the Carney government prepares to revive federal funding to help Canadians pay for home energy retrofits, experts say the new program needs to be fast, flexible, and flush.<\/p>\n
Speaking to reporters in Wakefield, Quebec, in early April, Prime Minister Mark Carney confirmed<\/a> that his government would re-fund the Greener Homes Grant program first launched in 2021 by his predecessor, Justin Trudeau. The program, which provided homeowners with up to $5,000 toward eligible retrofits, proved hugely successful. It issued<\/a> over $1.8 billion in grants for measures like insulation upgrades, energy-efficient window replacements, and solar panel installation, helping make homes more resilient to extreme weather, and cheaper to heat and cool.<\/p>\n The program closed ahead of schedule in February, 2024, when it ran out of funding.<\/p>\n The Greener Homes Loan program, which offered homeowners 10-year, interest-free loans between $5,000 and $40,000 to help cover home retrofit costs<\/a> was likewise a roaring success\u2014until it, too, ran out of funding. The loan program closed abruptly<\/a> in October, 2025, less than three years after its launch in June, 2022.<\/p>\n As his government moves to \u201crefresh these programs,\u201d it is focused on making them \u201cas impactful as possible,\u201d Carney said.<\/p>\n That will mean avoiding the \u201cboom-bust cycle of funding\u201d that plagued the first iteration of Greener Homes, Brendan Haley, senior director of policy strategy at Efficiency Canada, told The Energy Mix. \u201cThe government must provide confidence that home retrofit support will be available when Canadians need them.\u201d<\/p>\n Pointing out that \u201ca key theme of the Carney government is blending public and private capital and encouraging productivity,\u201d Haley added policymakers must realize the potential of such partnerships in the renewed loan program.<\/p>\n \u201cThe previous loan program design missed out on opportunities to encourage innovative contractor business models by marketing the loan through them, and blending public capital with social impact investors, credit unions, utilities, and other community or private financiers.\u201d<\/p>\n Haley pointed to clean energy lenders in the United States, like Michigan Saves and the National Energy Improvement Fund, as models to follow. He also urged the feds to ensure the loan program fits with other ways Canadians already pay for home upgrades, including utility-bill financing and by adding the costs to property taxes<\/a>, to pay off over time.<\/p>\n The program\u2019s end goal must be \u201cto retrofit the building stock up to a high-performance average standard,\u201d Haley stressed. \u201cWithout a guiding goal, the implicit goal will be to run the program until the money runs out, which appeared to be the case under the previous program iterations.\u201d<\/p>\n Alongside the North Star of sturdy financing, Haley highlighted flexibility<\/a> as key, saying the program needs to accommodate how Canadian households function. The resurrected version must be nimble, offering heat pump financing immediately after an old furnace breaks, for example. Families must also be able to tap into the fund over time, as they retrofit their homes in stages.<\/p>\n Haley commended the Canada Greener Homes Affordability Program (CGHAP), a new $800-million initiative where Ottawa will partner with provinces to provide no\u2011cost home energy efficiency upgrades for low\u2011 to median\u2011income households, including renters and tenants.<\/p>\n CGHAP was launched in Manitoba in September, and Natural Resources Canada confirmed in an email to The Mix that the program \u201cwill be launched across the country in the coming months.\u201d<\/p>\n Other experts say the Carney government still needs to demonstrate its commitment to decarbonizing Canada\u2019s building stock.<\/p>\n \u201cOttawa is acting in all respects as if climate change isn\u2019t an issue\u2014when it is a serious threat to residents now,\u201d said David Miller, managing director of the C40 Centre and co-chair of the #ElbowsUp for Climate campaign. \u201cOne sign of a positive intention would be for Build Canada Homes<\/a> to mandate zero emissions in all projects it approves.\u201d<\/p>\n Specific to retrofits, \u201ca national strategy around heat pumps\u201d would signal leadership that has otherwise been \u201centirely absent on this issue,\u201d the former Toronto mayor told The Mix.<\/p>\n Shaw TV\/YouTube<\/p>\n As the Carney government prepares to revive federal funding to help Canadians pay for home energy retrofits, experts say the new program needs to be fast, flexible, and flush.<\/p>\n Speaking to reporters in Wakefield, Quebec, in early April, Prime Minister Mark Carney confirmed<\/a> that his government would re-fund the Greener Homes Grant program first launched in 2021 by his predecessor, Justin Trudeau. The program, which provided homeowners with up to $5,000 toward eligible retrofits, proved hugely successful. It issued<\/a> over $1.8 billion in grants for measures like insulation upgrades, energy-efficient window replacements, and solar panel installation, helping make homes more resilient to extreme weather, and cheaper to heat and cool.<\/p>\n The program closed ahead of schedule in February, 2024, when it ran out of funding.<\/p>\n The Greener Homes Loan program, which offered homeowners 10-year, interest-free loans between $5,000 and $40,000 to help cover home retrofit costs<\/a> was likewise a roaring success\u2014until it, too, ran out of funding. The loan program closed abruptly<\/a> in October, 2025, less than three years after its launch in June, 2022.<\/p>\n As his government moves to \u201crefresh these programs,\u201d it is focused on making them \u201cas impactful as possible,\u201d Carney said.<\/p>\n That will mean avoiding the \u201cboom-bust cycle of funding\u201d that plagued the first iteration of Greener Homes, Brendan Haley, senior director of policy strategy at Efficiency Canada, told The Energy Mix. \u201cThe government must provide confidence that home retrofit support will be available when Canadians need them.\u201d<\/p>\n Pointing out that \u201ca key theme of the Carney government is blending public and private capital and encouraging productivity,\u201d Haley added policymakers must realize the potential of such partnerships in the renewed loan program.<\/p>\n \u201cThe previous loan program design missed out on opportunities to encourage innovative contractor business models by marketing the loan through them, and blending public capital with social impact investors, credit unions, utilities, and other community or private financiers.\u201d<\/p>\n Haley pointed to clean energy lenders in the United States, like Michigan Saves and the National Energy Improvement Fund, as models to follow. He also urged the feds to ensure the loan program fits with other ways Canadians already pay for home upgrades, including utility-bill financing and by adding the costs to property taxes<\/a>, to pay off over time.<\/p>\n The program\u2019s end goal must be \u201cto retrofit the building stock up to a high-performance average standard,\u201d Haley stressed. \u201cWithout a guiding goal, the implicit goal will be to run the program until the money runs out, which appeared to be the case under the previous program iterations.\u201d<\/p>\n Alongside the North Star of sturdy financing, Haley highlighted flexibility<\/a> as key, saying the program needs to accommodate how Canadian households function. The resurrected version must be nimble, offering heat pump financing immediately after an old furnace breaks, for example. Families must also be able to tap into the fund over time, as they retrofit their homes in stages.<\/p>\n Haley commended the Canada Greener Homes Affordability Program (CGHAP), a new $800-million initiative where Ottawa will partner with provinces to provide no\u2011cost home energy efficiency upgrades for low\u2011 to median\u2011income households, including renters and tenants.<\/p>\n CGHAP was launched in Manitoba in September, and Natural Resources Canada confirmed in an email to The Mix that the program \u201cwill be launched across the country in the coming months.\u201d<\/p>\n Other experts say the Carney government still needs to demonstrate its commitment to decarbonizing Canada\u2019s building stock.<\/p>\n \u201cOttawa is acting in all respects as if climate change isn\u2019t an issue\u2014when it is a serious threat to residents now,\u201d said David Miller, managing director of the C40 Centre and co-chair of the #ElbowsUp for Climate campaign. \u201cOne sign of a positive intention would be for Build Canada Homes<\/a> to mandate zero emissions in all projects it approves.\u201d<\/p>\n Specific to retrofits, \u201ca national strategy around heat pumps\u201d would signal leadership that has otherwise been \u201centirely absent on this issue,\u201d the former Toronto mayor told The Mix.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/SupportTheEnergyMix.webp\" "\\"\\"")
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