Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you for your presentations. We really do appreciate your taking the time to make these very instructive presentations and provide us with your views and comments.
I'd like to start with Mr. Irwin of GrowthWorks Capital.
Having previously been in the business of helping companies obtain venture capital and other forms of capital to commercialize their technology, I know how difficult it can be, especially in Canada. I'm sure part of it, as you pointed out, is that our resource funding market is so large here, and that a lot of our institutional and other capital goes there.
I take your point about the maximum investment for RVCs not having been increased since 1985. First of all, can you give us some comments on perhaps some successful RVC investments that have happened in Canada over the last few years, so that we get a sense of how important this is to Canadian businesses?
Secondly, what is your view on the appetite for these kinds of investments in the current marketplace, given what's gone on in the markets in the last year or so?
Thirdly, what is the U.S. government doing to encourage and enhance venture capital investments? You mentioned that the venture capital market per capita is so much larger in the U.S. Maybe you could give us a sense of what, if anything, the U.S. government is doing to encourage it.