Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I also thank our witnesses for being here.
I must say right from the outset, Ms. Ing, that if you contribute in any way whatsoever to the success of the Super Bowl, you already have all of my esteem and admiration. I also want to say that I am very happy for the success of your small business. I think that that success has something to do with your presence here today.
I'd like to take a few minutes to provide a broader picture of innovation and research and development in Canada. According to OECD figures, in 2008-2009, Canada was the OECD class dunce with regard to direct investment in research and development. Our businesses come dead last in the rankings. This has consequences such as the fact that we are lagging behind when it comes to registering patents, as compared to our OECD competitors, as we are in the number of doctorates awarded.
I would also like to give you a broader overview, one which goes beyond what the Office of Small and Medium Enterprises can do, and we applaud what they do do, of course. Indeed, the investments made by businesses themselves in research and development has been stagnating since 2000. It was approximately 1% of GDP in 2000 before it went up a bit to 1.3% in 2001. Afterwards, it went back down to 1% in 2009.
What do you think the government could do? Could it not better support businesses, do more to help them to invest in research and development, and support them better through direct subsidies to research and development, since our country is the poorest performer in that respect among OECD countries?