Mr. Lefebvre, thank you for your question and for giving me the opportunity to expand on this.
Quebec and Canada have acquired considerable expertise in the responsible development of known base and precious metals, so we aren't starting from scratch.
I agree with Dr. Zaghib that it's important not to try to reinvent the wheel, but rather to map the expertise in Canada, focus it and support it.
How can research be supported right now?
It's important to understand that, because of market conditions and existing monopolies, the competitiveness and funding of research in the critical and strategic minerals sector are very different than in other sectors. In order to obtain funding levers for research, the industry in Quebec and Canada needs cash investments, especially from the federal government.
We therefore need to review our funding models, because the companies are all in the same place and are well upstream from the mineral development process. We're talking about exploration companies whose financial resources are precarious. In order to move forward on this front, research needs a different kind of support, specifically more public than private investment. We also need greater support for research infrastructures and platform development, because so much technological innovation is needed.