Good afternoon, everyone.
We have three items to deal with at committee today. The first is to hear from witnesses regarding Bill S-3. Over the years, this committee has dealt with the same piece of legislation twice before. This will be the third time, so I don't think we need a detailed explanation, unless some member of the committee would prefer that. Unless someone disagrees, I'd prefer a shortened version.
The second item on the agenda is to go through this bill clause by clause with the experts from the department. If we get that finished, the third issue is to go through the main estimates for 2009-10. Certainly it is the responsibility of this committee, and at the last meeting the member from the New Democratic Party had asked that we do that.
That's the agenda for today. We can get right to business.
Pursuant to the order of reference of Thursday, April 2, 2009, we are considering Bill S-3, An Act to amend the Energy Efficiency Act. In this first hour--and beyond, if necessary, to at least be present at the committee--from the Department of Natural Resources, we have Carol Buckley, director general of the office of energy efficiency, and John Cockburn, director, equipment division. Thank you both very much for being here.
Please go ahead with your presentation on the bill. Then we'll go to clause-by-clause study. If there are any questions resulting from your presentation, we'll certainly go to them first.