Thank you so much for that.
Our committee is beginning a study of the impacts of Joe Biden's IRA—the Inflation Reduction Act, not the paramilitary group—and they have put aside $100 million for government agencies to “make determinations” on selecting “materials and products” that meet the standards that will “reduce greenhouse gas emissions” of federally funded building infrastructure and construction building. The funding will also help identify “low-embodied” greenhouse gas emission materials in products across the IRA.
That is a huge financial incentive. One reason that New Democrats have pushed for this study on the IRA is the real possibility that Canada could be left behind in the development of a sustainable economy if the Americans are putting that much financial muscle into this.
Mr. Cannings, in your work, do you think our putting this legislation in place will help set the table for Canada to be able to compete? As a follow-up, will we need to be putting aside funding, as the IRA is doing in the United States, to incentivize these wood products?