With respect to the energy efficiency programs, there are a number of methods of evaluation. One is the formal evaluation conducted by a third party. Five of these are under way at the moment, on equipment, transportation, buildings, houses, and industry programs. The results of these will be available in a few months.
On an annual basis, we have a business plan that breaks down our four-year targets year by year. We track the progress of the programs on an annual basis against those annual targets. In fact, as the director general I review the targets with all of my managers at mid-year and at the end of each year in the four-year cycle in order to see that programs are on track and to make any corrections, if anything is not on track. Those are the two primary ways in which we conduct evaluations of the progress of the programs and their effectiveness.
The last part of your question referred, I believe, to which would be the most effective program.
Mainly, the most effective of all these programs.
The programs are all doing quite different things and using different measures. An incentive program is very different from a training program in terms of the rate of intervention with the energy user, for example.
One of the most effective tools overall is the regulatory instrument, because it provides a prohibition in the economy for the least efficient performers to be imported or transferred across borders. These programs, which carry our standards and regulations, are extremely effective. We have been operating them since 1995, and they have been through many different evaluations. Those evaluations have always been very positive, demonstrating net present value financial savings impacts to Canadians as well as the emission reduction impacts associated with those regulations.
Thank you.