Thank you, Mr. Chair. By the way, may I congratulate you on the quality of your French.
I thank the witnesses for kindly lending themselves to this exercise. I think the Business Development Bank of Canada, the BDC, is a very good vehicle for economic development, and Canada is lucky to have an organization such as yours.
We did a tour this summer that allowed us to meet some intelligent young people. Our society allowed them to develop extraordinary expertise, and these young people have products to put on the market.
I want to talk about start-ups, new enterprises. I would like to know what the BDC can do for them, since I think it has a responsibility there. As an example, let's do a simulation.
Suppose there is a student at Concordia University who has an extraordinary product that other countries are fighting over. They want to invite him over, invest in his product, develop it and turn it into a very prosperous enterprise that will sell such products to Canada. Do you know what prevents people here from going abroad? Their family ties.
As a society, we are fragile. If the people I am talking about do not have children or spouses in Canada and go abroad, we are going to lose business opportunities. And yet it was Quebec and Canadian society that made that development possible.
All through the school cycle, research and development allowed these young people to develop an interest and an expertise. Now other countries come and get them. What does the Business Development Bank of Canada do in such situations? On your website, your slogan mentions that you are the only bank dedicated solely to entrepreneurs. However, are you thinking about those who will become entrepreneurs and have prosperous businesses?