There are a lot of questions there, and they're all good questions. They really are good.
I'm not going to comment particularly on the return on investment in the larger sector. I do know that venture capital has run away, so I don't think it's been that spectacular. But among the small business sector, I think there are terrific opportunities, and there are companies that are succeeding. There are some that will fail, and that's the normal course of events; that's the culture you create.
As to the benefits to society, I can refer to various inventions that we've been involved in that have a social benefit as well as an economic benefit. For example, if you have a daughter who is thinking of going into health care, I would suggest you recommend she go into mining, because there will be a third less opportunity of her being injured as a result.
My team was largely responsible for introducing overhead powered lifts in hospitals, and we're still introducing a new invention to make this lifting totally effortless this year. It is a massive problem at home as well. Family members have very sore backs and give up, and people go into nursing homes and elsewhere because they can't cope at home.
There is money to be made there. There certainly is money to be saved there in the health care system.
My view is more that we need to be driving this through small business, through helping start-ups, through helping small and medium-sized entrepreneurs get into this game by doing it in a way that they can move quickly. They don't want to report and describe their projects in great detail to a national database generally. They want to move this month and stay ahead of the competition.
I think the SR and ED program is a spectacular success, despite all the criticisms that have been levelled at it. I think government and the bureaucracy have tried hard to make it work. It is still a bit of wordsmithing rather than real technology, which is why I'd like us to think about SBIR, or some other system, where there is review of the technological advantage and there is a lead through to procurement.
Dr. Paige recognized the ARTIC program in Ontario. Mine was the second project to be supported by that. The key was that of the 28 CEOs, 18 hospitals placed orders for our product. That's what allowed the company to launch.
So if we can be clever.... People will always quote GATT and NAFTA and stuff to us. They can't with Defence, by the way, and we do need better boots for the army, for example—really, seriously, we do. There are opportunities where we can cleverly work, government and bureaucracy together, with small business and drive that way into research to realistically get things done.
I hope I answered some of your questions.