Thank you, Chair. Thank you to the witnesses.
Ms. MacNaughton, every colleague has acknowledged your efforts. Let me just echo what they have said. It's really moving to be here today to have the privilege to listen to you articulate what you have done. It is a clear example of what constituents can do when they work with their member of Parliament to create meaningful change. Thank you very much for all your efforts.
Mr. Chair, small craft harbours have been mentioned. The infrastructure gap has been mentioned. I don't have a question for Mr. Fox, but it is for my Conservative colleagues. I think they would be wise if they looked at the record of the previous government from 2006 to 2015 if they want to understand the root causes of any infrastructure gap that could exist on small craft harbours. That's just a point of clarification and advice and help for my Conservative colleagues who were asking about that today.
Mr. Casey, it's really interesting testimony. Thank you very much for appearing. I heard you on a podcast recently as well. I know you're quite active in this space and I hope it continues. I think that Canada is well suited and this government is only going to benefit when we have people like you sharing advice on what we need to do in this country.
There was an op-ed written very recently in The Globe and Mail by Chris Albinson, the incoming CEO of Communitech in Waterloo. Let me just read a couple of excerpts from it to get your thoughts. There were some things in it that really surprised me. I knew that we were doing well in Canada as far as tech was concerned, but we are very well positioned in this country, as the op-ed articulates.
He said the following:
In terms of return on invested capital, Canada is now the third-most productive tech ecosystem on the planet after Silicon Valley and China, and is closing the gap as those two rivals turn inward and stagnate.
The other thing that stood out was this quote:
When you throw in our strong advantage in the next wave of technology (think artificial intelligence, machine learning, quantum computing, 5G, medtech, advanced manufacturing), our relative cost advantage, and parity in access to markets and capital, it’s easy to see why Canada is poised to dominate.
He uses the word “dominate” there—not just “do well” but really dominate the global landscape.
Do you agree with this perspective? Could you expand on anything that stands out to you from what I just read? Is there anything there that you think we would benefit from, as a committee, by exploring more?