Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Again, thanks to everyone for being here. We've heard a lot of interesting stuff.
I want to hone in on the approvals process, not so much at the municipal level but at the federal level, and some of the innovations that are occurring.
I'm sure you're all familiar with Kevin Lee, the CEO of the Canadian Home Builders' Association. When he was here, he said:
We need the provinces, with the support of the federal government, to step in and create harmonization at the municipal level. We also need a national code interpretation centre that is binding, so that code solutions that are proven in one town aren't rejected in the next town.
We also need a less expensive and more nimble Canadian construction materials centre that can help new technologies become acceptable solutions in the building code more quickly.
I hammer away at municipalities all the time about the development approvals process and the outrageous costs and charges. This government loves to pat itself on the back for its housing accelerator fund, which makes no difference in terms of what cities do with their development shares. They keep increasing them, making it more expensive and, therefore, slowing things down.
At the federal level, I wonder if you can speak to what a federal government that truly gets it and is seized with the matter could do to bring parties together to say, number one, the national building code does not take affordability into consideration. The way we approve new technologies and review them is painfully slow, and, as we know, it can be interpreted differently from one town to the next, never mind one province to the next.
We don't have lots of time, but I'd like each of you to imagine you're running the show and you could wave a magic wand. What would you do at the federal level to knock heads together and get everyone in this country moving in the same direction with real action?
I'll start with you, Daniel.