Find out if gas is even an option on your street.

It depends on the block. Énergir's distribution network reaches parts of the South Shore, including some streets in and around LeMoyne, but coverage is partial rather than town-wide—this isn't like Longueuil's older gas-served corridors where nearly every home has a line. Before you shop for a fireplace, a local dealer can check your address against Énergir's service map; if you're not on a served street, propane is the practical substitute and changes very little about the fireplace itself, just the fuel source behind it.

Typical installs run $6,000 to $15,000 CAD. The low end covers a direct-vent insert dropping into an existing masonry firebox with a gas line already nearby—not uncommon in LeMoyne's older housing stock near the core. The high end covers new construction or a remodel that needs a fresh gas line run from the street, or a propane tank set and line if you're outside Énergir's footprint. Ask your dealer to break out the gas-fitter work separately from the fireplace unit itself, since that's usually where the range comes from.

Propane is the standard workaround, and it's common enough in the towns ringing LeMoyne that most local dealers stock propane-compatible units as a matter of course. You'll need a tank, either buried or set outside, and a delivery contract, which adds an ongoing cost most natural gas customers don't have. Some homeowners in this situation decide the extra propane infrastructure isn't worth it and switch the plan to an electric insert instead, especially given how low Hydro-Québec's residential rate runs.

At roughly 7.8 cents per kWh, Hydro-Québec makes electric fireplaces genuinely cheap to run, and the install itself is far less involved—typically $500 to $1,600 CAD versus $6,000 to $15,000 for gas. Gas still wins on heat output and on the traditional flame and ambiance many homeowners want in a main living space; an electric insert supplements a room nicely but rarely functions as a serious secondary heat source the way a gas unit can during a cold snap. If you're on a served Énergir street already, gas is a reasonable choice for real heat; if you're weighing the cost of a new line or a propane tank against electric's simplicity, that math often tips toward electric.

LeMoyne's municipal building department issues the building permit, and the gas line itself has to be run by a licensed gas-fitter working to the national gas code, CSA B149. That's separate from the CSA B365 code and WETT inspections that apply to wood-burning installs elsewhere in Montérégie—gas has its own inspection path, and most dealers who take on this work handle both the building permit and the gas-fitter sign-off as part of the project.

Direct-vent is the standard recommendation for LeMoyne's climate—it pulls combustion air from outside and exhausts it back out through sealed venting, which matters through a heating season that runs a solid five months. Vent-free units are legal in Quebec but carry strict room-sizing rules and add moisture and combustion byproducts to the room, which is a bigger tradeoff in a smaller South Shore home than in a larger new build. Most dealers here default to direct-vent unless there's a specific reason not to.

Most will, with the right ignition system. Units with intermittent pilot ignition run on battery backup that kicks in automatically when the power drops. A handful of models, including some from Valor, use a self-powered thermocouple pilot that needs no battery at all. Given how a South Shore ice storm can knock out Hydro-Québec service for days at a time, ask your dealer which ignition system is on any unit you're considering—it's a real practical difference here, not a minor spec.

Yes, and it's a common request in LeMoyne's older homes, many of which were originally built with a masonry firebox for burning sugar maple or yellow birch. A gas insert typically slides into that existing firebox with a stainless liner run through the chimney, and—provided your street has Énergir service or you're comfortable with a propane tank—it's usually a less disruptive project than a full new gas fireplace build, often landing toward the lower half of the $6,000-$15,000 range.

Wood remains the more natural default across Montérégie, with sugar maple, yellow birch, American beech, and red oak all readily available and MRNF cutting permits running about $1.85 per cubic metre. Pellet stoves, using regional brands like Granules LG, Energex, or Trebio at roughly $400-$575 a ton, offer cleaner, more automated heat without needing a chimney chase. Gas is the smallest piece of that picture here simply because Énergir's lines don't reach every street—it's a strong choice if you're already served or willing to run propane, but it's worth confirming availability before you build a plan around it.

Most modern gas fireplaces can—turn it on and off from the couch with a remote, or set a room temperature and let the fireplace hold the comfort zone for you. If low maintenance matters to your family, this is the feature set that makes gas the convenience pick over wood and pellet.

Because a fireplace is an iceberg—there's more behind the wall than in front of it. A low quote often covers only the unit; the full scope includes vent pipe, gas line or electrical, framing, and the tile or stone that has to come off and go back on. Make every bidder price the whole job. If a dealer can't speak to the full scope with confidence, that's your signal to keep looking.

Open fireplaces suck—literally. As the fire burns, it consumes air your furnace already paid to heat and pulls it out through the chimney, so the house is actually colder after the fire goes out than before you lit it. An insert fixes this: it seals the chimney, puts fixed glass across the front, and turns that hole in your house into a real heat source.

If it was installed more than 15 years ago, probably. Older gas fireplaces keep a standing pilot light burning all the time, and that little flame can cost a couple hundred dollars a year. Newer models use pilot-on-demand ignition—the pilot lights only when you use the fireplace and goes out when you turn it off.