Thank you. That's good to hear.
If I have just a couple of minutes, I'd like to venture into this whole issue of renovations and the cost. I think generally Canadians look at the number. I think the one that was highlighted was almost $10 million going to 24 Sussex, and you've outlined in your report the necessity of the specific upgrades.
We're talking about a 9,000-square-foot building. We're talking about $10,000 per square foot to bring in heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and all these things. If we were going to build a new house, we would build it for maybe $500 or $700 or $1,000 per square foot, but not $10,000 per square foot.
I'm wondering if you, in your position as Auditor General, would ever consider--and I'm not thinking so much of 24 Sussex, but I'm thinking of maybe The Farm and some of these buildings that were never constructed for the quality of life that we expect today--at any point that it might be time for the construction of a new residence.
Obviously we would maintain the old one for museum purposes, but with the cost of renovations and upkeep, I can speculate from my experience within the construction industry that it's much more expensive to retrofit a building for the official purposes than it would be just to maintain it as a museum. For new construction to go forward.... Obviously as we consider, there are some of these buildings that I can imagine will never be able to be upgraded to the point where they will be as efficient as something that was newly constructed.
I'm wondering--and this is irreverent of me, I'm sure, to contemplate that we would move and change an official residence--at what point we have to consider that in terms of efficiencies.