We have tried.
I am also the founder of Écotech Québec. We made representations last year, before the decisions were made. However, what we are currently proposing to the federal government and the provincial government is to change their income tax legislation so that commercialization costs will be credited for technologies that previously received research and development tax credits or for those that were either patented or protected as intellectual property. In other words, we don’t want it to become an open bar.
As you know, there are a lot of reports, including the Jenkins report, that have confirmed that Canada is in a good position to improve those technologies as a result of its tax credits and grants, but that the major challenge, since our market is small, is to export. Developing technology is expensive. We need a sustainable program for the commercialization of technologies. As the manager of Écotech Québec, I am asking the two levels of government to plan for a commercialization tax credit in their next budgets just for the salaries of technical sales engineers. We are not there to have an open bar or to get plane tickets, and so on.
This problem has been well defined. And in our view, the tax credit will make it possible to develop long-term commercialization strategies for Canadian technologies. That would help us a great deal.
Thank you.