Thank you very much for the question.
My name is Greg Reade. I'm a director general in the Department of Finance, and I'm joined by colleagues from Innovation, Science and Economic Development. It's a joint team that has developed the legislation that you referred to, which will enact the Canada innovation corporation.
Within the legislation the purpose of the corporation is described in subsection 238(9), and in 238(10) several functions are described that will guide the corporation as it becomes established and moves into the market to deal with Canadian businesses.
You're quite right that we're seized with the imperative to improve the productive capacity of Canadian businesses. The increase in business expenditures in research and development is a well regarded and very important way that we can assess and understand this capacity among Canadian businesses.
The corporation is an arm's-length entity. The Crown corporation's structure is designed so that on a day-to-day basis, the corporation—through its board of directors, its CEO and staff—can have the ability to allocate funding for research and development projects, and financial assistance, either as grants or in contribution-like form, depending on the nature of the project.
In addition to financial assistance, there are other important elements that can contribute to succeeding in the purpose to maximize—