Good day. First, I want to speak to the committee members. I will have to leave you shortly after noon. I am giving an interview on the seal hunt. You know that today is a sad day, almost a day of mourning, because the European Parliament has decided, by a landslide, to vote in favour of banning seal products. For my part, the fight will continue, a fight for truth and respect for our traditions, particularly in the Magdalen Islands.
Furthermore, I also intend to talk about the possibility of having an emergency debate on this matter this evening, and we will see. However, I would like to stress that there is no doubt that we will have to look again at the issue of the seal hunt. I don't know how we will be able to do so. I hope that it will happen next Thursday.
Good day. I heard people from the Canadian Centre for Fisheries Innovation. Today, I am listening to you. I have clearly understood the message from the centre for innovation, but I am having a little difficulty understand yours. You are going to help me over the next few minutes better understand you.
Please tell me if I am right or wrong. It seems that there is a certain philosophy that a research and development agency, in order to be able to exist for many years, must ultimately rely on private sector funding so that the government, at some point, can stop funding that agency. It shouldn't be like that. I think that the government or your agency can approve funding on an annual, two-year, three-year, or five-year basis, with progress reports, and so on. And if various facts mean that we are not satisfied with the work done, the funding can be stopped.
I have always understood that research and development remains the poor parent of the private sector, if I might say so. The private sector will invest if it benefits it to do so, if it wants to make more money. I am thinking, in particular, of pharmaceutical products. Hundreds of millions of dollars are invested in research and development, but for a target market.
In the fishing industry, we are trying to understand what is happening underneath the surface of the water, that which we cannot see. In my opinion, we are just starting to do a bit of research and development in that sector. We should remember that, even with regard to cod, an area we are extremely familiar with, we still don't know today the chain of events that can scientifically explain what has happened with regard to cod stocks. This kind of research and development is extremely difficult and takes an extremely long time, in my opinion.
I'd like to give you the opportunity to tell me your philosophy, how you see things regarding research and development organizations coming to see you and whom, at some point, you are turning away; they are turned away because they haven't made the necessary efforts to get private funding, and you are cutting their funding.
I get the impression that there are all kinds of ways in which you could maintain the same control over the funding that you grant to such agencies. However, it's essential to understand that the work they do, in the area of research and development, is long-term, whether we want it to be or not. With regard to fisheries, I get the impression that this could mean that a centre, such as the Canadian Centre for Fisheries Innovation, would not and will not be able to go and get private sector funding to make up for the shortfall.