Listen, I think what we have in the beginning, Mr. Cannings, is an ambitious program—seven years and $2.6 billion, as you know, announced in the FES. That's available to homeowners retroactive to December 1 of last year. We've asked people to hang on to their receipts. I think that will help a lot more Canadians make their homes more energy efficient. It's a means for homeowners to take real action to fight climate change and create good jobs in their communities. That's a really important point. The jobs will be created in their communities. Efforts are already under way to get the initiative up and running quickly and to roll out the funding for energy assessments and retrofit grants.
To your point, could we expand on it? Absolutely. But we're off to a running start. We're laying the foundation. We're building a national web portal where homeowners can get informed. They can coordinate with local retrofit programs. They can submit a claim and secure reimbursement. It will all be part of the launch coming up. The funding will see as many as 700,000 Canadians benefit from grants of up to $5,000 for retrofits, supported by EnerGuide energy assessments.
We're also investing to recruit and train up to 2,000 new EnerGuide energy advisers to conduct energy assessments. Those will be new middle-class jobs, targeted to reflect Canada's diverse workforce as well. We also announced further spending in that area, making homes more energy efficient by providing access to low-cost loans.
I think you and I speak to the same people on this. There is an incredible amount of energy and enthusiasm. We want to be very ambitious. We are laying the foundation. Could it grow further? Absolutely.