There's no doubt that we welcome the additional funding allocated to the college and community innovation program, which the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada administers. As I said, this is non-recurring funding, which is a problem because it doesn't allow for long-term strategy development or the purchase or introduction of new equipment. Something else it doesn't allow for is attracting and retaining top talent. Clearly, when you're forced to offer people temporary contracts, you can't be competitive.
Providing very good support for basic research but inadequate support for applied research impacts Canada tremendously. Applied research is where wealth and value are created. It's really time to adjust how research funding is apportioned and increase the overall level of funding throughout the chain. If we don't want to abandon an invention midstream and run the risk that it will never benefit a business or innovative solution, research has to be adequately funded at every stop along the way, every TRL.