That's certainly what I hear universally from businesses.
I want to read a couple of statements from the budget document with respect to the findings of the Jenkins panel which found:
Relative to peer countries, Canada has an over-reliance on tax incentives in the mix of federal support for business research and development compared to direct expenditures that support innovative firms and public-private research collaborations.
The budget document set out the key recommendations of the Jenkins report, one of which is:
Shift resources from indirect support through the Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) tax incentive program to direct forms of support, including the Industrial Research Assistance Program.
The budget document went on to state:
Economic Action Plan 2012 begins to deliver on this commitment, announcing $1.1 billion over five years for direct research and development support and making available $500 million for venture capital.
The logic here is fairly clear. We have a program. The single largest federal program supporting business R and D in Canada is the SR and ED program. It provided over $3.6 billion of taxpayer funds in 2011. The rationale is to move some of that taxpayer support to more direct funding programs like IRAP.
As both of you gentlemen know, governments have to make decisions in terms of opportunity costs. We can't fund everything. Money doesn't grow on trees in Ottawa. We have to make decisions. The decision was made to move some of that very generous taxpayer support for R and D from indirect support like SR and ED into direct programs like IRAP.
Do you disagree with that overall approach? Give me your reaction as an organization and as an individual.
We'll start with Mr. Cudmore and then go to Mr. Lavoie.