Thank you.
Great question. I would have asked that, too, but I would certainly encourage the federal government to look into more innovative ways of helping people. If homeowners are going to be bound by 2030 to retrofit existing houses, we need a reality check here, because even people with a good income can't afford to do that. I'm thinking here of things like a tax write-off if you do an energy retrofit.
I had the privilege when I was the NDP critic for public works to participate in the study, “'Powering' the Future of Federal Buildings: Energy Efficiency as a Goal”, in 2012-13.
There are two responsibilities of the federal government. One is the national building code, but the federal government is also responsible for its own building stock, and I've heard nothing about that. I am wondering if you are aware of it, or if anybody is paying attention to this report, which made very cogent, useful recommendations. The federal government has a huge potential because they own so many buildings, if you look at things like National Defence and so forth.
What action has been taken? You don't need to give me all the details. If there is any kind of report that's been done to action that report, I would appreciate it if the committee could receive it.
There were recommendations such as that the federal government be required to collect, monitor, and report on energy use in each of its facilities. There was also a recommendation that Canada consider adopting what the U.S. Department of Energy did, which actually imposed directives to every federal department and facility on percentage of reduced energy use by a set date and percentage of reduced water use by a set date.
I am wondering if somebody could speak briefly to that. What are you doing about your own building stock?