Heat Or Eat: Record Oil Costs Mean Tough Choices For Atlantic Canadians

"We see a lot of people pumping their own oil just to survive," she adds, referring to a gas station in Sydney that installed a furnace oil pump about three years ago. "That's what we're reduced to." Anti-poverty advocates say Tracey's story mirrors many more in Atlantic Canada, as low-income families are forced to choose between heat and food in a region where a higher proportion of homes use furnace oil than in the rest of the country. For Tracey, whose husband's disability pension doesn't even cover rent and food, that means using her federal child tax credit to pay for oil. "My kids - they don't get to do normal kid things. They don't get a lot of clothing, nights to the movies, to be able to do things with their friends, because we have to sacrifice to pay the bills." People living on the East Coast are particularly vulnerable to the rising price of furnace oil, which in Atlantic Canada is on par with or slightly higher than the national average of $1.02 per litre. That's up 50 per cent over the past 10 months, and double what it cost three years ago. According to Statistics Canada, more than half of all homes in Atlantic Canadian used oil for heat in 2003 - the most recent figures available. The national average is just 12 per cent. ... http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/080104/national/atl_heating_woes

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