Thank you for the question.
We were in Montreal two weeks ago to look at the work around artificial intelligence. In budget 2017, our government invested $125 million in artificial intelligence. Why? It seems to be at this tipping point. We have been funding discovery research linked to AI since 1982. Even by the late 1990s, people really weren't sure what it was. There were those continued investments in fundamental research.
It is now at the tipping point, and Canada really has an advantage because we had the leaders in this field. We built the talent base here. When this investment was made...we're attracting companies and we're attracting talent to our companies and institutions. It was amazing. One place told us that they are attracting 10 to 12 people internationally every two weeks.
I hope you all take a look at an article in The Economist from about a month ago. That article talks about “Maple Valley”. People want to know how Canada has been so successful in artificial intelligence. As a government, we've invested $125 million in the pan-Canadian artificial intelligence strategy. It's focused in Toronto, Montreal—