Human Resources committee  I can just say that—

Human Resources committee  Sure. I think what you're saying is that it's the overshooting right now. We're trying to loosen things back up, which won't create a huge demand. It won't suddenly do an about-face and go right back to a huge demand. We're seeing major challenges all across the country and economic conditions that don't support it, right?

Human Resources committee  I can touch on that tangentially. When it comes to labour mobility within Canada, certainly the EI system right now isn't set up to help that. We saw that in spades in Alberta especially. When everything was booming in Alberta, there were major shortages, and yet we still had unemployment in, say, Atlantic Canada.

Human Resources committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Canadian Home Builders' Association represents some 9,000 companies from coast to coast. As such, we are the national voice of the residential construction sector. More than 4,000 of our members reside in Ontario. I am pleased to be joined today by both the CEO, Joe Vaccaro, and the president of our Ontario Home Builders' Association, Rick Martins, who will also be able to provide you with more insights.

Natural Resources committee  That was a net-zero-ready home.

Natural Resources committee  That is with photovoltaics.

Natural Resources committee  Other than potential labour costs, potentially, but yes, the material costs tend to be about the same. Labour might be more—

Natural Resources committee  Correct.

Natural Resources committee  I think when we saw the home renovation tax credit, which was running in 2009 in parallel to the retrofit homes program, it was significantly less than that. It doesn't take a lot to incent Canadians to do what is actually the right thing. The other thing I would mention is the beauty of the EnerGuide rating system, as opposed to just incenting specific products.

Natural Resources committee  That's right, and that prevents fraud as well, which occurred many years ago. In the eighties, there were other government programs that didn't have proper auditing, and there were major issues.

Natural Resources committee  We do not, and it comes from the ebb and flow of programming. When you start and stop a grant program, people leave the industry. It's another reason that we're advocating for a permanent tax credit, because then there would be certainty. The nice thing, again, about building on the EnerGuide rating system is that everybody uses it.

Natural Resources committee  Yes, and you might want to ask to see their books.

Natural Resources committee  Fair enough.

Natural Resources committee  I assume you're talking about the underground economy and cash deals and that sort of thing. It's very extensive. Unfortunately, the more regulation and the more taxes are put on things, the more people.... I have to say that there's obviously an industry component to it, and there's a homeowner component too.

Natural Resources committee  Yes, we have to stop with this Passive House standard and “European technology is better” and all of that. They're tested to different standards. They're not tested to Canadian standards. These companies that are coming in and saying their windows are more efficient—and they're coming through the Passive House program at times—are not tested to Canadian standards.