Several thoughts come to mind. This gap, I believe, affects many sectors, if not most sectors, of the economy, be they tech or non-traditional tech, smaller start-ups or what are increasingly called scale-ups. It's maybe not so much the very large Canadian nationals and multinationals, but it's certainly where most jobs are, most employment is and the most number of companies are. That's a big one.
It might be very difficult to quantify whether or not this is the biggest single gap. What has my attention is the fact that the yardsticks keep moving. Look south of the border and look over the Pacific to China. Right now, those two countries are in a war—not a trade war or a tariff war—for dominance in e-commerce. If we don't up our game significantly, we're going to be—and I hate to take the word from my friends at the Sierra Club—roadkill on the information highway. That's where we're coming from.
I think there has been considerable progress in recent years in Canada in trying to address this gap. Is it sufficient? No. Is it necessary and has it been necessary? Yes. Is more required? Yes.