Thank you for the question.
For the folks at McMaster, I like you. I love you, actually. You do great work. It's always a pleasure to go there. We were well received. Everyone was kind.
In a sense you're right. McMaster, like a number of centres, had a head start. I think that we have everything to win in the economy of the 21st century. When you talk about autonomous vehicles and when you talk about AI, we're certainly punching above our weight.
Historically, the Government of Canada has been more on the capex side. With the Canada Foundation for Innovation, that's where we've been. That's why we have these programs where we invested billions, actually, to help a number of institutions across the country really have the means of our ambitions to upgrade the labs, the facilities and all that.
I am very familiar that. When it comes to the opex side of things, universities have asked if we can help them there. We're going to be looking at that.
The other way we can look at that is through partnerships. You mentioned the automotive sector. I'm very grateful for the work of Professor Bouchard, who was part of this science review panel. One thing I'm trying to look at is what they do in the United States with partnerships with industry to try to bring more money to the table, so that it's not just taxpayers' money or government. Is there a way, like you see in the United States with some big corporations, where there are these tech parks where they can partner?
I think I see that in action. For electric vehicles, in my discussions with automakers, they're willing to be part of the solution. They understand that talent is going to be key to their success as much as our success, and they want to be part of that. That's a model.
I would say that the work of Professor Bouchard is going to be informative in trying to find the right balance between that. Obviously, if you finance opex, there's a bit less money for capex, so you need to have this kind of approach. I'm trying to look at—and I'm sure it's going to appeal to my colleagues on the other side, as well—how the private sector can play a role in that, so it's not just public funds. It's something we can do. I think it's in everyone's best interests.