Heat pumps are not inherently expensive though. It depends on how competitive (or not) your HVAC industry is. Sounds like New Zealand has issues with this (probably due to being a small market).

High cost of labour is what screws us here in NZ. Tons of cheap heatpump from china sans tariffs and pretty much every house is required to have one.

I’d imagine similar in Canada. Either way whenever we discuss energy we should clarify where we post from since circumstances differ wildly.