Industry committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. To the committee, I thank you. Have a happy holiday.

Industry committee  You know, I wouldn't have changed what we did, but in what we've done now in terms of taking a look at policies and procedures, if ever we get into another pandemic, if ever we get into another disaster, I think those are things on a forward basis that we should be looking at. There's no question about that.

Industry committee  He was an observer. Yes, he would participate and talk more about updates at ISED, etc. He saw all the proceedings of the board.

Industry committee  I'm not sure.

Industry committee  On occasion I did speak with him. He and I would talk on the telephone. We would talk about proceedings, etc.

Industry committee  He didn't talk to me about that.

Industry committee  During the time I was there, SDTC got increased funds because it was performing so well. We got additional funds—

Industry committee  That's correct. It was on big topics like that—

Industry committee  I did not with anyone in the minister's office.

Industry committee  I did not with the minister, no.

Industry committee  He was extraordinarily interested—and I loved his energy—in the performance of the entrepreneurs. That's what we spent our time on. He would come to the meetings and we would celebrate entrepreneurs and we would make announcements together.

Industry committee  This was in respect to the COVID situation. Look, Mr. Sorbara, you have to put this in context. This was a month after the announcement of this pandemic. Supply chains were a disaster. Many of these companies—most of them, quite frankly—were pre-revenue. It was scary for them. I talked to many of these organizations, and they were really....

Industry committee  I don't have the details, but this was likely a clean-tech project in either the management of forests or the improvement of all the things we're doing to—

Industry committee  Absolutely. Sharing internally is the most important. We have an enormous.... I shouldn't say “we”, because I'm no longer there. The management team is working very closely with all the employees in that organization to make sure we are following these new processes and developing the discipline to make sure there's a comfort level with the government, the board and the organization to make stuff happen.

Industry committee  There were occasions when projects would be proposed by companies that were making revenue.