Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you very much to the witnesses today for taking the time to come here to offer your opinions.
I've been in construction for 20 years. I'm a construction electrician. I've worked on many projects. There's been a lot of talk in the committee about modernizing construction. This is something that's very interesting to me because, in construction, the prices are bid and it's a fixed price. Time is money. If there's one industry where time is money, it's construction.
There are a lot of things in place and certain formats of construction, such as a design assist, where the developer or building owner will work with the construction trades to increase efficiency and use cost-reduction strategies as the project is progressing. In Canada, we have certain parameters that construction projects fall under. We have things like climate, geography, the availability of building materials and the building code. We can't build a 17-storey building out of bamboo.
With all this discussion about modernizing construction and given that the construction industry is already self-regulating and modernizes itself, what do you think Build Canada Homes will do to modernize construction? I'd like to pose that question first to Dr. Whitzman, and then I'd like to hear from each of you.