The Technology Partnerships Canada Program provided funding to help industries develop leading-edge products. The Conservatives abolished this program when they came to power. It was a bad time to do so as, according to what all of our witnesses have said, research and development are major issues, particularly product diversification research and research on specialized niches.
Mr. Scarrow and Mr. Albert, would you go so far as to recommend that the Canadian government reinstate a program with a significant budgetary envelope—the Bloc Québécois would proposed $500 million—to help the forestry industry innovate and create new products? Would you be prepared to recommend the reinstatement of the Technology Partnerships Canada Program?