Saying the cheapest energy is the energy Ontario never has to generate, provincial NDP leader Andrea Horwath ventured to open a campaign front in Ottawa promising a “serious investment in conservation.”

“A New Democrat government will provide a rebate of up to $150 when people purchase EnergyStar refrigerators, washers and driers, freezers  and even air conditioners,” said Horwath, who added the rebate replaces a sales tax rebate cancelled by the governing Liberals when the HST was introduced.

Speaking in front of Ottawa-Centre NDP candidate Anil Naidoo’s home in Little Italy,  Horwath said the rebate would be on top of her party’s promised expanded home energy retrofit program.  

Naidoo said he’s done extensive retrofit work, but has been frustrated with the red tape involved with existing retrofit programs.

The Liberals wasted no time responding to the announcement, issuing a press release before Horwath even spoke, calling her platform a “dirty plan,” that would kill jobs in Ontario’s clean energy sector. Horwath, however, said she was in favour of alternative energy and would work with homeowners and business people through incentives rather than using a “stick approach with not-so-smart meters.”