Okay. Let me elaborate, then, on my first question. In fairness, it may not be in your purview, or it is more of a cross-governmental policy issue or debate.
You said that basically there's an established, well-oiled network within Atlantic Canada, specifically in the university system, to be able to transfer technology from the environment of academia into the private sector, which I don't disagree with. There are some very good institutions that have developed out there. The question is whether or not they're completely good enough.
I remarked that the president of the University of Calgary said that this is a Canadian issue: we're not very good at transferring technology from the academic environment to the private sector. That's where we fail, not on the intellectual side but on the intellectual transfer side, in getting that process out into commercial application.
ACOA does fund other organizations, like Springboard Atlantic. Are we to read from this that maybe this is going to stop, that because individual institutions have mechanisms in place to be able to outreach their expertise, their R and D capacity within the university...? I know that Dalhousie has an outreach office, Memorial has one, and Saint Mary's has one. Pretty well every university has an outreach office. Because that is the case, should Springboard Atlantic expect to shut down soon?
If not, what exactly is it about CCFI and the fishing industry such that the fishing industry has this so right that they don't need a go-between to get innovation, research, and development out of the university and college environment and into the private sector? How have they achieved this? Could we use this as a model for the world?
My proposition is that we're still lacking in that regard and that an organization like CCFI is still valuable. I think Springboard Atlantic is still valuable, and other initiatives that ACOA might want to fund outside of existing networks and mechanisms are still valuable.
Maybe you could comment specifically on CCFI.