Thank you for your question.
Ten years ago, I worked in universities in Canada and in the U.S. University research is so essential. We have world-class universities here in Canada, and we absolutely need to rely on them to produce that basic, fundamental knowledge that we all need.
On the other end of the spectrum, though, we have businesses that are trying to answer day-to-day questions about how they can increase sales, reduce costs, derisk an equipment investment and improve a process. There's a big gap between that business pull and that fundamental, basic knowledge produced at universities. I would argue that applied research is the bridge between them. That's really where colleges live and want to thrive. I think that we can not only have both, but I think we need both. It's essential for us to have a strong, thriving economy in Canada.
I mentioned in my opening statement that colleges have 2% dedicated to them, of the overall tri-council budget. It's 140 colleges fighting over 2% of the budget. I think there are 110 universities in Canada and they have 98% of the budget. Therefore, I would kind of be alarmed to hear universities complain that they're getting boxed out of any funding.