First, Mr. Speaker, I am glad to reiterate the fact that there are programs for retrofitting. I am very pleased about this, because many Canadian homes will benefit from the program.
Obviously any program needs to be administered in such a way as to benefit those who qualify for the program. For example, if someone has an old oil tank in the house that needs to be converted to highly energy efficient equipment, that person would qualify. If the individual already has a highly energy efficient furnace or heating system, he or she obviously would not qualify.
It speaks for itself. We need to have parameters, criteria and monitoring applied with any program, regardless of where the program is applied and for whose benefit it is given. In fact, that is the only responsible way to put forward a program as a government. We need to ensure that we hold accountable every aspect of the program in order to make sure we are meeting the intended objective of the program. Otherwise we have no way of knowing whether or not we are meeting the intended objective of the policy or the program, not to mention that we have no control over whether moneys are wasted. The answer is pretty clear on that one.