CACEA™ Urges Ottawa to Reinstate Canada Home Retrofit Grant and Loan Programs in Budget 2026
On September 8, 2026, the day Budget 2026 consultations closed and Canada’s retaliatory tariffs took effect, CACEA™ formally called on the Prime Minister and federal ministers to reinstate a multi-year national home retrofit grant and loan, modelled on the former Canada Greener Homes program, with a mandatory EA evaluation built into its design.
The case rests on two converging pressures: the original program’s strong track record (over 409,000 completed retrofits and $1.8 billion in federal support before it was discontinued), and rising trade-war costs that are pushing up retrofit material prices just as that federal support has disappeared. CACEA™ argues that a reinstated, EA-verified program would double as an affordability measure and a Canadian-made economic response, supporting domestic supply chains and jobs while cutting emissions.
The submission’s nine recommendations center on three priorities: reinstating the grant and loan with a funded EA evaluation as a condition of eligibility, preserving and strengthening existing oversight of EAs, and investing in EA training capacity to avoid repeating the workforce shortages of the program’s early years.