Northern Ontario energy credit: are we impressed?

NEWS RELEASES

GOVERNMENT OF ONTARIO

NEW DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF ONTARIO

************************** Help for energy costs in Northern Ontario

McGuinty government introduces new permanent Northern Ontario energy credit

Ontario is proposing a new permanent Northern Ontario Energy Credit that would help eligible low- to middle-income northern residents with their energy costs.

First introduced in the 2010 Ontario budget, the credit is central to the Lowering Energy Costs for Northern Ontarians Act, 2010, which was introduced in the Ontario legislature today.

The annual credit would be available to northern residents age 18 and older who pay rent or property tax for their principal residence.

A single person would be eligible for a credit of up to $130, while a family (including single parents) would be eligible for up to $200.

The credit would be reduced for a single person with adjusted net income over $35,000, and eliminated when income exceeds $48,000.

It would be reduced for families with adjusted family net income over $45,000, and eliminated when income exceeds $65,000.

For 2010, the province would process applications and deliver the credit in two instalments (November 2010 and February 2011). 

For subsequent years, the credit would be paid quarterly and the application would be part of the personal income tax return.

The proposed credit is part of the province's five-year Open Ontario plan to create jobs and economic growth.

Quotes

"Our government knows that northern Ontarians face challenges around high energy costs, and that's why we have found a way to help more than a quarter of a million people. The Northern Ontario Energy Credit would help over half of northerners benefit from about $35 million in assistance in 2010 alone." - Dwight Duncan, minister of finance

"The Northern Ontario Energy Credit would ease the burden of rising energy costs for people living in northern Ontario. Starting this year, our government is ensuring that more than half of northern residents would benefit from this new and permanent credit." - Michael Gravelle, minister of northern development, mines and forestry

Quick facts

- The credit would be available to eligible residents of the districts of Algoma, Cochrane, Kenora, Manitoulin, Nipissing, Parry Sound, Rainy River, Sudbury, Thunder Bay and Timiskaming.

- People living on northern reserves who incur residential energy costs would also be eligible for the credit.

************************** Energy credit won’t cover impact of HST: Horwath

QUEEN’S PARK - The government’s northern energy credit won’t come close to covering the sky-high home heating and electricity bills families pay every month, says Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath.

“Families in the North pay staggeringly high bills to keep the lights on and the home heated,” said Horwath. “It’s beyond me how putting a bit of money into one pocket but taking out even more from the other is going to help people.”

Horwath noted that the HST will apply to gasoline as well as utilities.

“Northern families can’t jump on a subway to get to work like people in southern Ontario,” said Horwath. “The Liberals’ new 8 percent tax on gas leaves people paying a lot more, even with the new credit.”

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