First, there is the issue of energy efficiency training and education in Quebec. Quebec has a huge housing stock. I think everyone would come out a winner if building owners were given incentives to undertake energy retrofits. Mr. Brouillette may be able to elaborate on that. Regardless, building owners whose tenants pay the energy bill have no reason to undertake energy-saving renovations. That is why it is important to give these owners financial incentives. Then we could do our job as advisors. When an owner wanted to spend $1 on renovations, we could tell them where to invest it to get the biggest bang for their energy-saving buck. That kind of skill is not taught as part of a technical program in architecture or construction. The industry is the one that trains these people.
If the program were renewed, I would have certain questions as a business owner. I would have to ask myself whether I was willing to invest in and train thirty or so evaluators all over again. I was around when EnerGuide was cancelled and now ecoENERGY. I am not so sure I want to go through that a third time. We are talking thousands of dollars. We developed expertise. After the sudden cancellation of EnerGuide, we started to build a name for ourselves with ecoENERGY. Right now, I am not sure whether the industry in Quebec would be interested in doing it all again.
I often joke that it is the bookkeeper brother-in-law who tells the building owner which renovations they should do. Usually, those are myths that we help to dispel as experts in the field. That is something the industry is losing now as a result of these programs being cancelled so suddenly.