Thank you, Mr. Chair.
It seems to me, from our research, that some of the best economic stimulus will come from the energy retrofitting of homes. There's short-term and long-term stimulus. There's the initial spending on jobs to do the renovation, and then homeowners should have more money in their pockets, out of energy costs saved, to further spend elsewhere.
We see the reference in Bill C-10 to the renovation and retrofit of social housing at a sum of $500 million, and northern housing at a sum of $100 million, but I don't see in Bill C-10 a general program for the average homeowner. We have homeowners calling our offices already, asking us, “Can we start spending? Can we start buying windows and doors and renovations with the guarantee that this is going through?”
I ask the witnesses from the Department of Finance, do we need the enabling legislation to follow through with this promise that was in the budget and that in fact is up on your website? Is it in Bill C-10, or are we supposed to wait for some further legislation?