Thank you very much, Mr. Blanchette‑Joncas.
Is the unique nature of the CCTTs fully understood? I would say that college research is still quite unknown. Is this research well funded? I think that we still have ground to cover.
As was explained earlier, college research is conducted under a self‑funding formula. Certainly, if we want to maintain capacity, infrastructure and critical mass, we will need both core funding and project‑based funding. The more core funding there is, the more project‑based funding needs to keep pace.
Applied research is necessary and useful. Small and medium enterprises account for over 80% of the economies of Quebec and Canada. We need to help them innovate more, and that is done through applied research, with colleges as local hubs.
Concerning college research, CCTTs are relatively unknown, even though all of the technology access centres are inspired by the Quebec model. Therefore, I think that it is high time that this research be funded at a level that reflects the socio‑economic spinoffs that it creates in all regions and ridings of Canada.