Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Minister, I'd like to ask you a question about the school districts. As I'm sure you're aware, school districts face challenges when it comes to decarbonizing their operations.
I have a couple of quick stories from my home province of British Columbia. The Greater Victoria School District renovated Vic High, the high school in Victoria, but instead of putting in a renewable energy heating and cooling system, they went with a gas furnace. Their argument was that insufficient funding was made available. They declared a climate emergency in 2019. The Cowichan school district likewise declared a climate emergency in 2020. They want to replace all their school buses with electric versions, yet they were only able to secure funding for one school bus, through the province. They would like to convert their entire fleet.
Recently you created a $1.5-billion program for building retrofits, whereby cities can access those funds directly without going through the provinces. Would you consider creating a similar program that would allow school districts to apply for funding from the federal government?