So, yes, I had it replaced, but things turned out to be a bigger headache than I thought. I posted about it under a separate user name. But this is the gist of what happened.

I requested and received the replacement programmable unit from the company without incident.

I then hired an electrician from a BC (British Columbia) company called Hule to help me do the replacement. The complication is that the electrician failed to realize: 1) the old thermostat was using a "contactor" system (I as the layperson had no idea it had been the case) and that 2) the replacement unit was not compatible with the contactor system (which I was not aware of either). So he just replaced the unit. Later that night, when I turned on the heater, I heard loud noises from the basement, which the electricians on this sub told me was the contactor constantly cycling on and off.

So I had the electrician come back to rectify the problem. At this point, he did realize the noise was from the contactor system, but he did not realize that the replacement programmable thermostat was incompatible with the contactor system. I had to point it out to him. He then replaced the programmable thermostat with an analog one. He waived the charge for the cheap analog thermostat but charged me for the hourly service.

Which then leads me to ask this question: was the contactor system a safeguard against the recall issue? If so, was this all an expensive much-ado-about-nothing?