Mr. Braid, I know your community very well. I'm a resident of Fergus, where I was born and raised and which I represented in Parliament and which is literally around the corner from you.
I am stunned when I see the creativity in Kitchener—Waterloo and the number of businesses there that have been created and the number of individuals who just exemplify the best of the knowledge economy. This is where Canada's hope lies in the future, in that sort of creation of new jobs.
Intellectual property protection is absolutely critical, whether it's in terms of patent reform or in terms of copyright reform, to reward those people who take risks and those people who invest their creativity.
Both people and capital are mobile to an extent unprecedented in the history of humankind. If we do not protect our intellectual property in Canada, not only will we not be able to attract people here from abroad to make those investments of their brilliance and of their financial resources, but we will lose them voting with their feet to go to other countries. That's why it's so utterly critical.
I have a son in university. I don't want him, when he graduates, competing with a young person from western China on the basis of who will accept the lowest pay. I want him competing on a value-added job based on the knowledge-based sector where we have a sustainable, competitive advantage in Canada. And to do that we need to have a legislative framework in place that rewards creativity and that keeps our best and our brightest in Canada.