I always like to say that Canada's future prosperity goes through rural communities, quite frankly, and that's a very real situation. We have been able to put what we call a rural lens on some of the scorecard metrics we actually measure, and the importance of that is exactly what you said: making sure we understand what's happening in rural communities. Access to broadband is one of the very largest things. Also important is access to immigration, having enough people to be able to come into the areas in which jobs and talent are needed. Those are things that preoccupy.... We've met with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, and they have lots of concerns in the area with respect to making sure municipalities have the right tools to be able to look after themselves. It's the same thing in rural Canada as well.
I would submit one thing, if I may. On business investment, either in rural Canada or in urban Canada, we really have to do better. A report that came across my desk today from a coalition partner actually brings it into stark contrast. If you'll indulge me for a second here, in 2021, U.S. firms spent 103 times more than Canadian firms did, but the U.S. GDP is only 11 times greater than Canada's GDP. When you think about it in that way, you really get that understanding that we're not doing as much as we can when it comes to business investment in R and D.
I appreciate your question on rural, and we're going to continue to make sure we focus on the differences we have in Canada amongst all of our municipalities and regions.