Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister, for being here, and for bringing all the interns.
My question reflects some of that, the difference between science and innovation, and maybe builds on Mr. Stewart's comments. Also, Mr. Jeneroux's comments around PEARL were, I think, very to the point as well.
We need to look at continuing to fund research. The innovation funding that we've put in place is one thing, but innovation doesn't start on its own. Before we have innovation, it needs science. I met with D-Wave yesterday. They're looking at quantum machine learning, machine learning like we've never seen, and they frankly don't know what it is and need to have some scientists play with quantum computers to figure out what the applications could be for quantum machine learning.
Last week we announced $1 million of innovation funding to Mirexus Biotechnologies in Guelph. They're looking for new uses of corn nanoparticles, which are new in themselves. I asked how many staff he has, and he said they have 30 staff there, but they have 15 researchers in various universities across North America who have been funded by our government. When we look at developing solutions that we don't even know where we're going with, we need scientists working and being curious in the background.
On the importance of science funding, as in the Naylor report, and the importance of long-term funding, as in the PEARL funding that we've been talking about, could you speak to the advocacy that you're doing with our government to maintain the focus on science funding separately from innovation funding?