Thank you, and again, that's the science and tech file.
With your permission, Mr. Chair, I'm happy to answer that.
Congratulations, by the way, on your appointment as critic. I think you will find this the most exciting file.
We obviously launched the Jenkins panel based on the fact that businesses were not spending as much as we needed them to on research and the development of that research, despite some very generous programs by the federal government. Mr. Jenkins spent a year with a panel of experts. It was a very comprehensive report. Congratulations for reading it.
The Prime Minister has been very clear, and I've been very clear: While we do subscribe to the diagnosis behind the report, we don't subscribe to all of the recommendations.
The first recommendation, combined with the fourth recommendation, in particular, would amount to significant changes to the National Research Council. My interpretation is that the recommendations add up to eliminating the National Research Council, which we are not prepared to do, simply in order then to build another government organization. We have said in recent months that we are making changes at the National Research Council. We have a new president on side. We are, in fact, changing the organization to do more industry-facing, demand-driven research. That is not to say that the basic research in the country will in any way be diminished. We have a very strong amount of investment going into basic research, from the most pure discovery, from isotopes to neutrons, all the way through to the Perimeter Institute and the Institute for Quantum Computing. All of this continues to be supported.
But when we look at the nation and realize that compared to our partners, our businesses are not using the incentives we have created for them to the degree that they could, changes are necessary. The opportunity to have the National Research Council, with all of its resources and bright minds and great history, really turn its energies into assisting businesses to become more innovative, more productive, more globally competitive to produce growth that results in better quality jobs for Canadians, higher paying jobs, that is the direction we're moving in.
I hope that answers your question.