Mr. Speaker, the hon. member mentioned the eco-energy retrofit program. That program was put in place by the previous Liberal government, was cancelled by the Conservative government and on the eve of the election it brought it back for a year. These types of programs, when they are put in place for a short period like a year, do not provide the same kind of stability for small businesses involved in green renovation than a longer term approach would provide.
A company called Sustainable Housing in my riding had 50 employees when the Liberal program was in place. That number went down to about 16 employees when the program was cancelled. The company is now seeing this new program for the next year and there is a lot of uncertainty as to whether or not it really can expand and give people job security as it does so.
Would my colleague agree that it would make more sense to extend this program for four or five years because these are major decisions that homeowners have to make and major decisions for small businesses that are expanding into the green jobs of tomorrow, in this case green renovations?