First of all, I'm not an expert on trade. I think I have to be cautious in how to proceed on this answer.
I've heard from people, and there are always people who support us, as well as people who are detractors in the area of trade. I do think that in the globalized world it's absolutely necessary. We do need to be part of the world supply chain. We absolutely have to because if we can't sell and we can't buy certain things, then we cannot progress. Let me give you an example.
When you're talking about trade, you're talking about large volumes, right? Let me begin by saying that we just heard, maybe two days ago, about a company called Thalmic Labs. It's a company that was started by students who graduated in 2012 from a mechatronics engineering program. They were 23 years old when they graduated, and two days ago, they received $150 million U.S., as series B funding, to expand the manufacturing of their wearables.
What does that mean? They spent a lot of time in China and Korea trying to find suppliers for their product when they were trying to get started. What they did, and we worked with them closely, was they ended up producing all the parts in Canada. The supply chain is in Canada. After all that work, and after one year looking for suppliers, the only piece they make outside Canada is the chip from Korea. That's the intellectual piece.
This is what my point is. We have to make the intellectual piece and not just the other pieces. The fact that we are competitive enough to be supplying to Thalmic Labs is wonderful, but we have to make the chip.
Thalmic Labs is going with 100 people right now. These are three young men, all 26 years old, and they're going to hire 100 people. They're going to double up in the next year, they said. They have to find 100 people in the next year.
The manufacturing is right in a little shop half the size of this room, and they're making parts. They're selling hundreds and hundreds of these wearables.
I do think that it has to go both ways.