Thank you for bringing this bill forward, Mr. Van Loan. I support the bill, the spirit of it especially. Like every Canadian, I really enjoy our heritage. I think it's very important.
Because I wasn't here for the witnesses, I haven't heard all the stories and the testimony around this bill. I imagine a lot of the discussion has been around balancing the benefits to the public good with the cost to the public purse in providing funds, especially providing funds in this case for perhaps wealthier Canadians rather than the middle class.
You mentioned the estimates of benefits to the public purse. Could you perhaps comment to some extent on how confident you are on that?
I want to bring up the example of a few blocks down the street from here where there's a building called Somerset House. Since the early 2000s, the owner has neglected the building, and it partially collapsed in 2007. Now the owner estimates it will cost $2 million to repair the building. Under your bill, the owner would be eligible for a 20% tax credit for repairing the building. That's $400,000.
Do you think it's right that taxpayers should be on the hook for that amount of money, and should we perhaps have a cap that owners could claim for each year?