Thank you very much, Madam Chair. I would like to thank all the witnesses who are here this evening.
Thank you very much to all our witnesses tonight as we continue our study on top talent, research and innovation.
For me, as an east coaster and the MP for Halifax West, I'm always really pleased and happy to see somebody from Nova Scotia, from Atlantic Canada, take part in these discussions.
Thank you very much, Dr. Aiken, for appearing with us tonight. Let me first acknowledge your service with the forces and your long record of support to our veterans and service members. Thank you very much for that.
Let me begin by saying that it's not a secret that, in Nova Scotia and in Atlantic Canada, we have some of our most aging population. Can you tell us if that would be true of the community of scientists and researchers as well from your perspective? I would then ask: How do we ensure we attract and retain the best and brightest? Do we have enough in our domestic supply? How do we ensure that the ones we do have in Canada we keep in Canada?
We heard in previous testimony—and those are facts—that it's always more expensive, and it costs more to the researcher, to anybody coming from outside Canada, to get to know our system, how to deal with it and to build on the successes of people who are already here. Then the follow-up is: Do we have enough here? How do we do that? How do we then go and search for international students and for the brightest internationally, from your experience, from Dalhousie's and from the east coast's?