I think there's a way of competing, and I thank you for that question.
Maybe I should qualify this. We've fallen behind dramatically on the business expenditure in R and D. In the higher-education expenditure, we're still there, but over the last 20 years, when you look at the pressures in the system, which are inflation plus growth, the available funds, what I call the normalized funding, is decreasing.
What we're calling for is essentially a significant investment that goes beyond inflation. We have to address inflation, but we also have to address growth, and we have to address competitiveness. If we want to be competitive and ensure that research and innovation take place in Canada, and we should, then obviously we need to invest.
When we invest a dollar in a researcher, when we give Dr. Pomeroy $100,000 to conduct his research, it's not going to pay his salary as it is in the Unites States. It is going to pay for his graduate students. He takes that money and passes it on to graduate students and post-docs, so you're creating jobs essentially, and at the same time you're educating the workforce of tomorrow.
There's a perception that this money disappears in the system. Essentially, close to 80% of the funding that a researcher receives goes to support their graduate students and their post-docs.
I think there is an opportunity to be competitive because we do have areas of excellence that are extraordinary. Dr. Pomeroy mentioned water. That's also my own area, and we can point to so many developments in water technology, water treatment, waste-water treatment, water security, AI, quantum, advanced manufacturing, agriculture and so on.
There are some fantastic areas of expertise, but remember the three points that I mentioned earlier in terms of the focus. That's also an important area to look into for future development.