Let me answer this question. What you say about exploration is interesting. We could talk about this the whole day long. There are huge technical challenges. Inviting a country like China also raises significant challenges, one of them being to convince older world governments to do that at the same time. Also, as Frank stated, I believe it is very important to have an innovative vision of what should be done. Take the example of Russia which has been doing the same thing for 50 years. It is doing exactly the same thing today as in 1951. It is not an example of technology innovation.
All this deserves serious thinking. If we use the same technology as today, such as the shuttle and the Soyuz vehicles, we will only explore Mars. However, if we improve our technology, there will be benefits in many sectors. Over 20 years, in Canada, we have had a rate of return of 8 to 12% each year on our investment in exploration. I wanted to say that before answering your other question.
What I found interesting in the program developed by Bob--it must be said that Get fit for Space was his idea--is that most people who got involved were seniors, people 55 and over.
There is a link with what we did in the 60s with the Governor General Awards, bronze, silver and gold. However, we did not care who would be first or second. We only wanted to get people involved, not to promote competition through rankings. We wanted to ensure that all the seniors who wanted to participate would be able to do so. Even my 85-year old aunt was proud to tell me she finished her walk to the space station.
I believe we can do much in Canada in this field. it is something that is important to us.