Thank you.
This is something that other countries do quite well. It's something that Canada can do better. We look forward to the release of the review of federal R and D spending in the next two weeks, which we think will buttress the arguments made by the Science, Technology and Innovation Council report last June. It showed that universities were doing an exceptional job in producing highly qualified talent, but that the business sector did not connect to that talent very well. So how do we make that bridge?
Other nations simply provide short-term internships of six to eight months for master's and Ph.D. students to work with private sector enterprises to make sure that the students get the early, real-life experience of working in an enterprise that needs to produce wealth; and secondly, that business can see the quality of the master's and Ph.D. students available in Canada.
I would add that despite our increases in enrolment in the country, we produce far fewer master's and Ph.D. students than competitors like the U.S., the U.K., or Germany. So the Council of Chief Executives, the Chamber of Commerce, and the Innovation Council have all been saying that we need to increase the number of graduate students and that we need to make sure those links exist to create a stronger Canada.