EDITOR:
P.E.I. is a leader in energy efficiency or so they say. Recently it was announced that $47.8 million is being set aside to help improve home efficiency. That is all well and good but we need to look behind the curtain.
As a nation, we have said we want to reduce carbon. The best way to do this is not just with home improvements but with changing how we drive. Cars are the largest air polluters in the world. So why have there been no incentives here in P.E.I. for electric cars. P.E.I. could easily match the grants available in Ontario, and easily have over 10 per cent of sales electric.
However, P.E.I. places 23.1 cents per liter on gas and then HST on the full sale price. The tax money is too high for them to truly ever care about it, unless we stand up.
According to Stats Canada, Ontario had 273,600 cars sold in 2017, with incentives of $14, 000 (7,477 were electric.)
P.E.I., for that same time period, only had 2,849 cars sold according to Stats Canada. If we as a province want to lead the charge and have 10 per cent of sales which is about 300 electric cars a year, it would be only $4.2 million if we went with the same $14,000 incentive Ontario has. That’s not even 9 per cent of the funding being put forth by the federal government for P.E.I.
Mike Duffenais,
Charlottetown
