Finance committee  Yes, we would be giving incentives to developers. There are small developers doing heritage buildings. It's been proven that often they will not put in the money to do the building without any incentives. It just sits there and deteriorates.

Finance committee  I don't have a dollar value. I think Heritage Canada may have put something forth, but it depends on what the uptake would be, and it would be gradual and over many years. It's really hard to say. As I say, Heritage Canada may have that information, but I don't.

Finance committee  Certainly in the Gastown example there was a huge amount of economic spinoff. In terms of some of the buildings that have been restored, Water Street in Gastown was sort of souvenir shops. Now the second part of Water Street is becoming upscale furniture. Fluevog is in there. That's the economic spinoff, and obviously the private sector has invested heavily with a small number of incentives.

Finance committee  Well, as you say, it would have to be on the historic places register, because otherwise people would be just coming forward with some old building and wanting to get money for it. Once you are on that register—and of course you can apply to be on that list if you aren't on it—I think you'd probably have to get three estimates of what it is going to cost to restore your building.

Finance committee  Well, I think the outside would obviously be the key. In terms of the inside, you'd want to keep the basic structure of the wood frame and windows, and so on. But we've seen some excellent examples of buildings that have been used for something other than their original purpose, and we would certainly support that.

Finance committee  Well, I actually used to work for the National Capital Commission in Ottawa and am quite aware of the buildings there. I think there are only one or two stonemasons who are actually able to do some of the stonework. So I would certainly support the restoration, but I don't know how you'd give yourself a tax credit.

Finance committee  I'd like to thank you for allowing me to speak today, and I certainly encourage you to seriously look at implementing this program. Thank you.

Finance committee  Good afternoon. It's a great pleasure to be here. Unlike many of you, this is our first time making a presentation to this committee. I'm here today to urge you to introduce a federal income tax credit program for heritage building owners, to assist with the preservation of our heritage stock.