Finance committee  I think, very simply, it's that it's administered on the ground in the communities. The people who work at IRAP are on the ground, across the country, and they invest the time building relationships and understanding the needs of the business and making those small-dollar investments with the small companies at critical stages.

Finance committee  Yes.

Finance committee  Yes. I think things such as an angel tax credit is something that's been talked about for a long time, which would incent people to make investments into companies in Canada. It would also provide a first reporting opportunity for us to truly recognize the impact that angel investment makes in this country, because until we have a way of capturing those kinds of investments, we have no idea how much it is.

Finance committee  The issue is purely about access to foreign capital. This is the impact section 116 currently has on foreign venture capital funds. If a company has raised early-stage investment, or A round, perhaps within Canada, and it wants to do the next round of financing, the section 116 requirement gets in the way of the U.S. venture capitalists being able to come in with Canadian VCs to invest in the companies.

Finance committee  Thank you very much. Good evening. Mr. Chair and members of the committee, thank you very much for your time today. My name is Iain Klugman. I am the CEO of Communitech, the technology organization in the Waterloo region. This is my colleague Avonwy Peters. We work at the forefront of Canada's technology industry, with more than 550 technology companies.