Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Johnson, Support Our Science previously told us that, according to a study, 38% of Canadian PhDs leave Canada to go and work abroad, mainly in the United States. They're looking for better research conditions in countries where governments decided to invest in research and development. Thirty-eight percent is a serious brain drain.
Mr. Gaffield, you said that, as a result, Canada was at risk of becoming a scientific colony. We invest in training high-level researchers, then we see them leave to create, innovate and invent elsewhere. We then become captives of foreign countries' goodwill in order to access the technology and innovation that will shape tomorrow's society.
Mr. Gaffield, what you said echoes a speech made in 1925 by Brother Marie‑Victorin, a man I deeply respect. He's one of the founders of ACFAS, l'Association francophone pour le savoir. I'd like to share a passage I read. It includes an excerpt from a speech given nearly a century ago, if you can imagine:
Sovereignty over knowledge is necessary for sovereignty over territory, the economy and national life: "We will never be a true nation until we stop being at the mercy of foreign capital, foreign expertise and foreign intellectuals; until we are our own masters through the possession of knowledge and the physical resources of our land and its flora and fauna."
What do you think of that statement?