Sure. I'll try to answer succinctly, Mr. Chair.
First in terms of the domestic market, basically what has happened in Canada and in many other countries around the world is that the VC market has crashed as a result of the world recession, and we've all been trying to pick up the pieces.
We launched a public-private venture capital fund, a $300 million fund called the tandem expansion fund through the BDC, contributing through the economic action plan. I believe it was $75 million that went into that fund, and then private sector partners are coming in. That will help, certainly in late-stage commercializations—that's what that fund was directed to.
One of the big problems—and I hope I'm not glazing eyes at this point—was section 116 of the Income Tax Act, which was a withholding provision that made it difficult if not impossible for American or European venture capitalists to invest in Canadian companies in situ. What was happening was that they were dissuaded from investing in a start-up in Cambridge or Waterloo or Montreal or wherever. They would say, “I would like to invest in you, but.... If you move to Boston or to California, we can invest in you there.”
What we were actually doing by having section 116 in place was migrating our start-ups to the United States, for the most part. We've amended that; we got it fixed.
I've already heard from the ICT industry that this was a huge win for the industry, and I believe it's going to have a very positive impact.