In our platform we made a commitment that innovation is critical for our growth. There are three areas that we emphasized. We talked about infrastructure, we talked about helping the middle class, and we talked about innovation in our platform, but somehow during the campaign, innovation didn't get talked up as much. We got caught up in other issues, and other challenges came about. It is really great to see it emerge again in the budget that was presented on March 22.
The $800-million commitment that we have put forward will be managed by ISED. The idea is to say that those monies will go toward accelerators and incubators for the purposes of investing in young people, creating jobs, allowing small businesses to scale up.
That is a key part that I want to emphasize. We do reasonably well when it comes to start-ups as a country, relative to our international peers. The area in which we do a poor job or in which we have an opportunity to really succeed is helping them scale up. There are going to be takeovers. There are going to be individuals who buy out companies, but we want, through this initiative, to help companies scale up and stay in Canada.
If we create these large, global, successful companies—not only in Canada but globally as well—they also then help with a supplier base. They help mentor other companies. Executive management members go out and start up other companies. It just creates a really neat ecosystem.
This is an initiative that I'm proud to say will be worked through, and the program requirements will be brought forward in a timely manner. It is something that our department will take a leadership role in.