Thank you very much for the question.
The build back better plan tries to do two things. It tries to solve for carbon, so it actually puts Canada on a path that is consistent with the goal of reducing emissions by 45% by 2030, but it also tries to stimulate the economy. The plan, in its summary, includes recommendations along 11 axes.
To build on the discussion we just had a moment ago about rare earth, I think it would be helpful perhaps to speak about natural resources and EV innovation. The proposal that we make in the build back better plan is a $40-billion investment which would create a million jobs and a gross value added to the economy of about $300 billion, with an economic multiplier of two.
This proposal would take Canada's oil resources into a new realm, which would be bitumen beyond combustion. It would use organizations like GreenCentre Canada and others like Alberta Innovates to create high-value materials that are extremely light and are fundamentally important to the electric vehicle value chain.
If Canada doesn't have a strategy for its lithium and for advanced material like graphite, it's not for lack of examples in other countries. In a relatively small, poor province, Spain has a small lithium mine which was just going to be a mine. They decided to build a battery plant next to it. With advanced materials that can be produced with Canada's oil sands to create materials that are extremely valuable and that create intellectual property that can stay in Canada as part of an electric vehicle value chain, I think this, combined, is a winning proposal for Canada.
There are other areas that are perhaps less technology intensive, like building better homes and workplaces. The government did take up one of those recommendations with interest-free loans to be provided and managed by CMHC. We think there's a lot more to be done there as far as decarbonization of the whole construction supply and value chain is concerned. Again, we're seeing very strong moves in other jurisdictions to create standards to reduce emissions in the building supply value chain as well as to move towards passive houses.
The irony in the world of building is that Canada was the world leader in terms of energy efficiency for buildings and homes. The world doesn't associate Canada with the passive house. It's Germany that is seen as the originator of that, but it did come from Canada.