Government Operations committee  Not right now. In the future there might be, but there's no limit on it right now.

Government Operations committee  No. All buildings are certified after occupancy. It is basically that we are very prescriptive about what credits to pursue, what strategies to pursue, and what they have to submit to us for certification. Depending on the size you pursue, they would submit that to us. And it depends on the credit.

Government Operations committee  We don't have direct input in the design process. Our reference card is pretty detailed around the strategies. As part of the process we provide some assistance to the design team in terms of LEED and the credits they want to pursue, but it's limited. It's up to the design team, with the owner, to decide what kind of building they would like to achieve.

Government Operations committee  I agree, but the program has only been around for three years in Canada, so we're still working on it.

Government Operations committee  There are some statistics at the back of my package. It shows you the provincial distribution of the LEED system. We have about 351 projects now registered in Canada. Ontario is leading, followed by B.C., Alberta, and Quebec is in fourth place. There are 34 buildings registered and two buildings certified.

Government Operations committee  I can attest to that. Our new reference guide is available in both languages, and the French is a little bit thicker than the English one.

Government Operations committee  They are a little bit different. They are both rating systems, but they are a little bit different. Internationally, there are a whole bunch of rating systems. I think we would say that they are actually complementing each other. We focus on new building stock, and BOMA Canada, with the Go Green program, is focusing, actually, on existing commercial buildings.

Government Operations committee  Yes.

Government Operations committee  Thank you very much.

Government Operations committee  How long would you like the statement to be?

Government Operations committee  I'll keep it as short as possible. Thank you very much for inviting me to address the committee. I have a handout that I'll take you through. Given the time, I'll skip over some slides and emphasize just the important ones. The Canada Green Building Council, for those of you who are not familiar with it, is a national non-profit organization made up of mainly industry representatives.