We've actually been looking at the question of what can be done to encourage more research and development spending by industry for more than 30 years. The problems have always been similar. That is, it tends to be the large corporations that do the bulk of the research and development spending. We have the highest level of foreign ownership. When Nortel went under, we lost the biggest R and D spender in the country. Right now I believe RIM is, and it's in some jeopardy.
I agree with Paul Davidson that the tax credits have proven to be a very blunt instrument, and although among the most generous in the world, they have not in fact changed the situation fundamentally.
There's a variant of direct expenditure, and that is for the government to put the money instead into a grant funding program to which companies can apply and an independent scientific review will determine who funds it.