Laferriere and team announce Candle Light Protest to take the HST off Home Heating

Brantford, ON – Families in Brant are having a difficult time staying warm this winter with the introduction of the Harmonized Sales Tax on home heating.       

“The HST is making it more difficult for families to survive this winter,” said Marc Laferriere, Federal NDP Candidate for Brant.

The introduction of the HST in Ontario has caused many essentials to daily life, including home heating, to cost an extra 8 per cent for people in our community. In addition to the HST, the cancellation of the ecoEnergy retrofit program and the rising cost of home utilities are making it significantly harder for families to afford to heat their homes.

“The Harper government has failed in its promise to make living in Canada more affordable for the average Canadian,” said Laferriere. “It is time the Conservative government showed some leadership and removed the HST from home heating costs.”

Here in Brant, the NDP will be holding a candlelight vigil to protest the government’s stance to allow the HST to remain on home heating. The vigil will be held on Tuesday, February 1st at 7:00pm at 1100 Clarence Street S.

Those who cannot make the vigil, but want their voice heard, are asked to light a candle and place it in their front window that evening. Marc and his team have already begun giving out candles throughout the community, and candles are available by contacting marc@brantndp.ca, the facebook event page or by phone at 519-751-9111.

“We want our voice heard in Ottawa that it is unacceptable for our government to make it harder for families to heat their homes this winter and in the years to come.”

Here are some pictures of Marc and members of the community working on and announcing the Shine Light Campaign.

Comments

[Dave Van De cappelle]

What about those folks who heat with electricity? They get no relief? Lots of houses built in the 60s and early 70 have electric baseboard heating installed in them, this plan would leave them out in the cold. I have heard no rumblings from The NDP on this issue.

[Marc Laferriere]

http://www.unfairhst.ca/home.html has information about what the NDP is trying to do about this as well. I agree with both initiatives and have talked about both.

You'll also see more about what we are doing locally about both here:
http://www.brantnews.com/news.cfm?page=news&section=read&articleId=9626

I hope we can see you out on Feb 1st at our vigil. We will be talking about affordability issues in general and would be happy to have you Dave.

-Marc