Madam Speaker, the first objective of the bill is to give financial assistance to low income seniors and low income families with children. Its second objective is to help families to reduce their heating bills and accelerate the transfer of funds to municipalities. Its third objective is to increase transparency and accountability on the market.
Those are the three basic objectives of the bill. As outlined in a number of news releases prepared by the committee that presented us with the legislation, the total bill for this would be $2.438 billion and, of that, we find that new funding is marked down as $1.333 billion. In other words, there is a substantial amount from existing systems that would go into this particular legislation.
With respect to the issue of who should receive the energy cost benefit of almost $600 million, that is being discussed at length. Obviously some people feel that it should be a wider net. Some people feel that this is the most appropriate one given the difficulty of getting out such cheques in a short time before the winter. That debate can go on forever depending on the number of constituents one would like to add into the mix, but it is clearly designed for low income Canadians, particularly those with families, and seniors who happen to be on the government assistance program.
Putting aside that large chunk of money, which is a successful approach, I should simply point out that this is in anticipation of future costs in the coming year and is essentially an increase in their disposable income of that $250 and is something they can spend as they wish. It is essentially an increase in the payment by the Government of Canada to these individuals. It is not linked to them producing receipts, for example, for energy payments. I think it is important and it is a good thing that we allow them that freedom of choice.
When we get into some of the other elements of the program, low income retrofit and public transit, we get into areas where money has been promised before. What we are really doing in these areas is advancing that larger context that was discussed in the budget and also by the Minister of the Environment in the months gone by. This is essentially putting forward a little more in the area of giving energy efficiency for public buildings, private homes, public transit, et cetera.
It is quite important to have a look at this. If we look at the numbers we realize that we are still dealing with very small numbers of, let us say, the public buildings in Canada, the buildings of municipalities, universities, schools, hospitals and things of that nature. I doubt whether 5% of those buildings will be aided by this program.
Similarly, if we look at the commercial buildings that are in the program, I think we will find a similar figure. It may be greater than 5% but it would not be a great deal more.
The number of homes expected to benefit is still substantially below 10% of the 11.5 million apartments or detached dwellings that we have in Canada. The issue that I put--