Certainly: now, a small modular reactor is only a commercial formulation. It says nothing about the technology that goes into it. That's just an expression. That's a commercial choice by vendors to make it small rather than a large grid-based one.
I would caution the desire to pick a lane, at this point. I think it's a much better policy to water many flowers than to try to pick a lane early. That's part of the old paradigm where the state got involved very early on and made a decision that in hindsight probably wasn't the best decision. Water many flowers and have a broad set of policies to support nuclear innovation. I think that is a much better approach.
Second, I think a key thing for nuclear innovation, efficient nuclear innovation, is to have a source of neutrons. If you want to compete internationally and have a vibrant domestic nuclear community, innovating for competitive products, you need a source of neutrons. The NRU has been that source of neutrons. If Canada wants to continue to be competitive in this field, it needs to continue to provide its domestic nuclear industry with a source of neutrons for research.