That has to be at least a significant objective, because we put in all those investment dollars and we use tax credits and all, which are basically funded by the taxpayers. You create this fantastic collection of companies, and then if you allow them all to go, we miss out on the real commercial benefits of having those companies grow and become large commercial companies.
My reference to RIM really was more about what it did for the local community in southwestern Ontario, in that once it was up and at its peak, it just created more entrepreneurs, more investment and became a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Just on the patent box, to talk about that at bit, that's an ability to take your IP and earn some dollars off it while you're not yet commercial and to have those dollars taxed at a lower level. This is not something crazy. It has been done in other jurisdictions quite effectively, such as the U.K., which has a life sciences strategy. I think that's probably where I would go with this—to ask how we connect all of this.
We do everything in silos. We do pricing and reimbursement in a silo. We do investment in a silo. We do R and D in a silo. We have universities and talent, but is it all connected? The health and biosciences economic strategy table did a really good job of laying out all the assets we have and has identified a need for a cohesive way to bring it all together so that it is all connected and is truly an ecosystem. Like any ecosystem, such as a coral reef, every piece of it has to be healthy, alive and vibrant if the whole coral reef is going to be healthy. That's what we need right now.
We have all these great investments. We have the infrastructure. We have the talent. We have all the companies. Now we need to connect it all with a coordinated life sciences strategy, not only at the federal level but one that ties into all that's being done at the provincial level as well. There are provinces that are equally pursuing the investment area, the tax area and the talent area, so how do we bring it all together?
That would be my advice. If we're going to do this, if we're going to create companies that are anchor companies in Canada, let's do it through a strategy.