Thank you, Madam Chair.
We will make our presentation in English, but if there are any questions in French, we can try to answer in that language.
We just got notice a few days ago, as you've mentioned, so we prepared this short deck. We have a longer deck that's also ready for you, but it wasn't quite ready for translation. We'll have a further document following.
I'll start with just a word of introduction about who we are. We thought we'd answer the four questions that you put to us as well as we could, and then we might tell a brief story that might flesh out a bit more of what we do, if the time permits us.
First of all, what is BOMA Canada? As you mentioned, Madam Chair, we're the Building Owners and Managers Association of Canada. We are a very mature organization. We're over a hundred years old. BOMA B.C. was the second chapter formed in the world, about 110 years ago. BOMA Toronto just had its 100th birthday in 2017. We represent many thousands of building owners, managers, and suppliers, ranging from energy engineers to janitorial service firms to lawyers, occasionally, from coast to coast to coast. With our 11 chapters, we have representation in all 10 provinces and even in the territories as well.
We have a flagship program called BOMA BEST. BOMA BEST is our building environmental standards program. We're closing in on 3,000 certifications of existing buildings in Canada. The private sector has really run with the program, and the public sector has embraced it too, although not quite as much. We truly believe that it can be a flag-bearing, public diplomacy global champion for Canada. To that end, we're actively expanding the program outside our borders.
We have our first hundred or so certifications in the States. I was in Mexico last year, as well as in China and Korea, with interest from elsewhere in Latin America, so we really think this can be an awesome thing for all Canadians.
Those are a few words of introduction, so maybe we'll to move to the questions. Randal, do you want to do the first one?