Mr. Speaker, the question regarding Canada's innovation gap is a very important one and I thank the member for raising it.
We all agree that greater emphasis needs to be put on encouraging performance of research and development, in particular in the private sector. That is why we created the Canada Foundation for Innovation. That is why we renewed the networks of centres of excellence and made that a permanent program. That is why we promised in the red book an increased amount of funding for IRAP, and that is why as we move forward from here, we will continue to protect intellectual property, a key component in ensuring that research is done in the private sector.