Thank you very much, Mr. Bigras. I do really appreciate your question and the work you've done on this. I know you want to see meaningful change. To answer in reverse--because you asked me specifically on wind--wind is something that I believe is very important to Canada's energy mix and I'm very supportive of moving forward on it. Announcements will come in due course. But I do believe wind is an important part of our energy mix. That's what I'm saying.
As far as the program cuts are concerned, there was an independent review done. It was initiated by the previous government, and there were various ratings on the programs, from good, to not so good, to failing grades. The programs weren't working, and there were over 100 programs. If some of these programs, from an independent review, were shown not to be getting the results they were intended to, we have to make a decision: should we continue with those programs? No, we didn't believe we should. Some of the programs had reached the end of what they were intended to do. They were actually completed; they weren't cut.
So it shouldn't surprise you that things are going to be done differently. You and I both know the record of the previous government. I want to give you straight answers, but even in their own government, probably some of the members had frustrations in their 13 years in office.
There were a number of programs. Of those 100 programs, there are still over 85 programs left in place. Will some of those change in the months and years ahead? I can't tell you which ones, but it won't surprise me, and I look forward to your input on which ones. Where can we redeploy money? Where can we get greater value for the taxpayer? When we're reviewing all of these programs, will we get it perfect the first time around? No. Will we be prepared to look at areas and take pieces of things that were working very well and say, this part of a program was working and maybe we can implement it in another program?
These are all the things that we're developing. We want to work with you to hear your ideas. I've said before in speeches that the largest source of untapped energy in Canada we have today, that we have not tapped into in any significant way, is the energy we waste. There's an enormous source of energy there, the energy waste. We want to do what we can as the government to invest the resources.
On energy efficiency, absolutely, we're looking at various programs. Will they be different from the previous government's? Without question. Will some of them remain the same? By all means, if they're working. But overall, yes, there will be changes. We are in a transition. I want to emphasize, talking about these program cuts, that 10% of the programs were either ended or cut, and they were not working. So we are looking forward to your input, and we're going to develop programs that we think are in the taxpayers' interest.