South Shore city offers $100 to ditch gas-powered gardening tools for electric

Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville on the South Shore is offering $100 to residents willing to swap their gas-powered gardening tools for electric alternatives as part of efforts to reduce the environmental footprint.

"By choosing electric equipment, residents are directly helping to create quieter, healthier, and more sustainable living environments," said Ludovic Grisé Farand, mayor of Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville.

Under the program, eligible residents will be reimbursed half the price of electric gardening tools such as lawn mowers, leaf blowers, string trimmers, and hedge trimmers. There is a limit of $100 per year per household. The City has allocated an annual budget of $10,000 for the incentive program. Applications need to be submitted by November 30.

The initiative reflects a broader regional trend. Other cities and boroughs in the Montreal area have implemented bylaws to ban or restrict the use of some gardening tools. The Côte-des-Neiges–NDG borough in Montreal banned gas-powered or vacuum-based leaf blowers between June and September in 2023. Beaconsfield banned leaf blowers in the summer over noise concerns in 2018.