Thank you both for appearing before the committee today.
I have concerns--and these are meant to be constructive, believe me. Last week the government's own expert panel on federal support for research and development noted that the percentage of Canadian GDP invested in research is only 1%, while the average in 34 OECD countries is 1.6%. This huge gap has been growing since 2006. Then last year I woke up to the surprise that we had actually been cutting our funding for research in food. In fact, NSERC dropped quality and novel by-products from its list of target areas for strategic grants—I think you know that—and the Networks of Centres of Excellence didn't renew its funding for the Advanced Foods & Materials Network, AFMNet. I know you're familiar with the people there, Peter.
What do you think should be done to restore agriculture and agrifood as a priority for granting agencies and for research and development?