Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I just want to start by saying today that I was reminded of something when you were talking about your son potentially going down to the States. It reminded me of when I lived in Texas. When my child went into kindergarten, she didn't go to play dates alone; I always went with her. When she went to grade one, she went on play dates alone, and I was reminded, almost on her third play date, that most people have a gun in their home, and they're not necessarily locked up all the time.
I had to start thinking about, if I sent my daughter to a play date, whether that family locked up their guns. I used to think about that when I went to work, too. As a Canadian, it never even crossed my mind that I was going to the office every day and a disproportionate number of folks had a gun either in their purse or on their person. When I decided to have another child, I came back to Canada, because it's just too expensive; I couldn't even have a child. There are just so many other choices that come along with living in the United States.
I also hear a lot about research and that the Canadian government does not invest in research. We know that, for Ph.D.s, they haven't been investing. We talk about productivity in Canada, and we know that Canadian companies skim all of their profits and don't reinvest to the same degree in research and development, in capital investments. American companies that come up here want to make sure their Canadian component is not making money so they don't need to pay taxes.
I want to go back to what we can do federally on research and development to get research done here, to become centres of excellence on innovation. What can be done?