Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the hon. member for his Friday question.
Encouraging small and medium-sized businesses to be more active in the research and development area is one very important element of our Canadian economy strategy.
As the hon. member knows, only 0.4 per cent of all Canadian businesses are involved in research and development, and very few of those are small and medium-sized businesses. The key element of our strategy is to find ways to help small businesses in that area.