Evidence of meeting #40 for Government Operations and Estimates in the 39th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was buildings.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Raymond Simard Liberal Saint Boniface, MB
Okay. So that time limit may come at one point.
Ms. Cross, with regard to the private sector, I'm curious. I imagine you would go into an existing building and assess it, make recommendations, they would renovate the building, and you would go in and rate it. Is that how it works?
Executive Vice-President, Building Owners and Managers Association of Canada Inc.
Not exactly. That's the subtle difference between the two, and certainly the price ranges or the costing that he was referring to for the LEED program are at a different range than for our program because we're not dealing with outside consultants.
The process is that a building operator or an owner would apply for the program. In the case of Go Green Plus they would receive access to the online survey, which is a password-protected access. They themselves, their managers, and their operations staff complete the survey, answering about 150 questions about all aspects of the building. Then once they've achieved a 70% score, which is the minimum required, they notify BOMA, and a BOMA-appointed verifier will come in and verify that the data are correct.
Executive Vice-President, Building Owners and Managers Association of Canada Inc.
That's right, exactly. So the bulk of the work is done by the building staff or building management themselves. Part of the theory is, as I said earlier on, that it's a learning process for them in going through this.
Liberal
Executive Vice-President, Building Owners and Managers Association of Canada Inc.
Yes, there is. It's a three-year certification, and after three years they need to reapply and be verified again.
Liberal
Raymond Simard Liberal Saint Boniface, MB
Can you give me an idea of what it would cost somebody to be certified?
Executive Vice-President, Building Owners and Managers Association of Canada Inc.
It depends on the size of the building.
Executive Vice-President, Building Owners and Managers Association of Canada Inc.
Yes, it's per square foot. On the smallest building, 20,000 square feet would be only $750, and the largest would be closer to $2,500.
Executive Vice-President, Building Owners and Managers Association of Canada Inc.
Part of that is the function of the amount of effort required to do the verification.
Liberal
Raymond Simard Liberal Saint Boniface, MB
Are you doing buildings for provincial governments as well?
Executive Vice-President, Building Owners and Managers Association of Canada Inc.
The Alberta infrastructure, the Government of Alberta, yes, absolutely.
Liberal
Raymond Simard Liberal Saint Boniface, MB
We are hearing a lot at this committee about Quebec and Manitoba, for instance, in terms of being leaders in the environmental field. I'm just curious to see if you can give us an idea of how the federal government compares to what the provincial governments are doing at this level.
Executive Vice-President, Building Owners and Managers Association of Canada Inc.
At this point I certainly would like to cite the fact that of the 250 buildings, 90 of them are in Quebec. So Quebec has shown a leadership role in the program. In fact, our BOMA organization in Quebec was instrumental in developing the French version of the Go Green program, which was developed in the west. So we were—
Liberal
Executive Vice-President, Building Owners and Managers Association of Canada Inc.
No, I don't think so. It could well be, but it's more awareness and eagerness to support the program and participate, and recognizing the value of it. So in terms of provincial governments, the Alberta government is the only one that has explicitly endorsed the program and is rolling it out. The Province of Quebec very definitely is supporting it, but they haven't made a formal statement as such. But there are buildings.
Liberal
Executive Vice-President, Building Owners and Managers Association of Canada Inc.
No. There's no external financial support on this.
President, Canada Green Building Council
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.
President, Canada Green Building Council
Yes. And we also have a new system as well. It's called LEED for commercial interiors, and it allows you to do tenant improvement. So it gives the power not to the owner but to the tenant, to improve the tenant space along the LEED environmental guidelines. So anybody who rents or leases a space, the private or public sector, can use LEED CI for the tenant improvement--just the floor, for example.
Bloc
Louise Thibault Bloc Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC
I am sorry I was late and missed part of your presentation, but I had to make a speech in the House. Let me ask my questions right away.
Ms. Cross, I realize your organization deals with commercial buildings only. Do we have in Canada one or several well-established companies that can certify residential properties?
