We share many secrets, but I can't talk about all that this evening.
Seriously though, we have a great relationship.
Concerning the differences between the two roles, I personally am an adviser to the Quebec government on research and innovation, and I also chair the Quebec funding agencies, so the Québec Research Funds. It's somewhat equivalent to the three federal funding agencies. We have roughly the same three agencies in Quebec. We are complementary. In Quebec, we support students a lot through scholarships and we have a lot of strategic clusters like networks. Ms. Nemer does not have that mandate, which I think is a bit unfortunate. When someone has not only a mandate as a government adviser, but also a more active role in research programming, it helps put into action some of the ideas that the individual might have or the suggestions that they receive from the research community, the private sector or government. In that respect, there is a difference between the two roles.
During the pandemic, we worked together closely. As I said earlier, we didn't really know what was possible, before this infamous pandemic. Much work is done internally, in the Quebec government, but I also work with Ms. Nemer, with colleagues from the funding agencies and with the Public Health Agency of Canada.