No government help for customers hit by N.S. fuel company's bankruptcy: premier

HALIFAX -

Nova Scotia's premier says his government won't provide financial help for customers out of pocket after a company they prepaid for furnace oil filed for bankruptcy last week.

Tim Houston said Thursday the province isn't interested in providing a "backstop" for Halifax-based Maritime Fuels and doesn't want to set a precedent.

"Government has a lot to do in its own respect in providing services, so backstopping private companies is really not something that the government can take on," Houston said following a cabinet meeting.

"Sometimes a gym goes under and is the government going to step up and refund people for those types of memberships? So there is a precedent-setting element to it, for sure."

Maritime Fuels owes $2.5 million in prepayments to customers, according to documents posted on the licensed insolvency trustee PwC Canada's website.

Houston says there is some help available for people who qualify under the province's home heating assistance program and other programs that offer home energy assistance. Nova Scotia's heating program offers a $600 rebate to individuals who earn $55,000 or less and families that make $75,000 or less.

Both the opposition Liberals and NDP say the government should expand the income thresholds to help people affected by the fuel company's bankruptcy.

"The government has a program in place that can help these people and they are refusing to do that," Liberal Leader Zach Churchill said. "We have people who don't know whether they will be able to heat their home this winter … and they (government) are leaving them out in the cold."

Churchill and NDP Leader Claudia Chender also took issue with Houston comparing the plight of oil customers who've lost payments to gym members unable to work out.

"That kind of comment shows how out of touch the premier is with the reality of everyday Nova Scotians," Chender said. "The idea that you are not going to be able to get the oil you paid for bears no resemblance to a gym closing."

After the bankruptcy filing, Service Nova Scotia advised customers to contact their banks and credit card companies in order to stop any pre-scheduled oil payments.

According to the PwC records Maritime Fuels has total debts of more than $51 million with assets of only $7.9 million.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 23, 2023.

For more Nova Scotia news visit our dedicated provincial page.