There are a couple of pieces there that I would like to discuss. One is the opposition, as I'll call it. Instead of the “anti” group, I'll call it the opposition.
I came to BIOTECanada from the forest products industry. That's where I was for eight years, doing policy and trade at the Forest Products Association of Canada. Environmentalists played a huge role in improving the Canadian forest products industry's environmental performance. They're the ones who held the industry's feet to the fire and told them to do better. The industry then figured out it was a competitive advantage to be better from an environmental standpoint. They improved their practices to the point where Canada is one of the leading forest products producers in the world, from an environmental performance standpoint.
I wouldn't want to denigrate the opposition to a point where we don't have it. There is still a very important role to be played there in terms of raising the questions that need to be answered. It ups the game for our regulators as well, such that they have to be as diligent as possible.
It ties to a point that Mr. Ruest made earlier, as well as to my answer to Mr. Breton. It's about this investment piece. If we stick our heads in the sand and say we can't do it because of what may happen.... Other countries are well aware of this economic opportunity and are developing their technologies as well. They're supporting their industries. They have bioeconomy strategies in place to support their industries. That's where the investment will go. It will go to those countries. We will continue to produce oilseeds and grains just as we always have, but we'll miss out on that piece. How do we create companies here? The investment is not going to be here.
Unlike other industries, like forestry, mining, and oil and gas, a lot of this technology that we're talking about is on computers. It could be moved anywhere in the world. If we're not bringing the investment here, that technology will go where the investment is and where the people are. That will be a huge loss, because we'll miss out on the economic benefits of commercializing that here. If we get the regulatory process right and a bioeconomy strategy right, we could be a leader in that space.