Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I'm really welcoming your comments talking about partnering between academia and industry and government and really taking a look at a new paradigm, because I feel what I've learned--and I've visited AUTO21 down there--is that we're going to win by innovation, human resources, and looking at this multi-disciplinary approach.
I do have some questions for you. Specifically, if we can talk auto industry for a minute, the entire auto manufacturing industry in Canada is foreign owned, the assembly part of it. We have GM, Ford, Chrysler, Honda, Toyota. Since they are foreign owned, quite often their R and D is done in the home country. I was wondering, how can the federal government help increase the R and D here in Canada as opposed to having this go overseas?
You mentioned Australia. Are they actually doing better than we are now or are they just climbing up the ladder as well?