Thank you very much for your question.
As I mentioned at the beginning of my address, I consider this committee to be the only place in Canada where serious and intense discussions are held throughout the year on the importance of research and science for Canada. Indeed, it's here that the key discussions take place. That's why am very pleased to be here, and and I can't see why people in Canada would refuse an invitation from you.
I'd like to briefly address the budget. I think that it's worth remembering that in Canada, the research granting councils were established in the 1960s and 1970s, a period during which Canada really decided that it would cease to be a colony. After World War II, our military contingent was rather substantial. We were actually beginning to think of ourselves as a full-fledged country. But in intellectual and scientific circles, we seemed to still be considered a colony.
When I began my studies at McGill University in 1969, for example, most of the professors had been educated outside of Canada. However, we established granting agencies for research as a way of signalling that in Canada, we were going to build a serious science community in support of our wish to become a strong country.
And as you know, the province of Quebec took the initiative of creating a research fund to support and complement the federal initiatives to some degree. I therefore think that the link between a solid scientific foundation and a country's capacity to be strong and properly protected in today's world is very important.