Industry committee  Yes, we have to make choices, but we have made some critical choices for the right reasons and now we have to follow through on them.

Industry committee  In the fields we're talking about, modesty is not a virtue. And in part, I think we've had a problem with being far too modest as a country, and I think that extends to our science and technology achievements. You're right to put the question back to us. Where are we in terms of being proactive in our communication planning and communication strategies to make sure the success stories that we're all relaying today are not just being relayed around this table, that they're being relayed to the public at large in the venues where they can best be heard?

Industry committee  If you're making that an invitation to us—

Industry committee  —to follow up with that level of detail, we would gladly accept that and work together to do that. I think the thing I should say is that we have had the opportunity in advance of today to exchange views, so we are talking to you as a collective as much as we are in terms of our individual interests.

Industry committee  I just want to indicate that there are two venues where I think advertising, in the best sense of the word, to the world where we are leaders is happening. One is in Beijing right now in terms of the lead-up to the Olympics and through the Olympics. Canada, as you know, is exhibiting there, and exhibiting amongst other things its science and technology.

Industry committee  I just want to say that CFI, when it funded each of the programs that we represent, required us to state very clearly what the benefits for Canada and Canadians were of that investment. That's written into our original proposals. A key part of that for us, with NEPTUNE Canada, was the applications to these various areas of public policy as well as public outreach that I've spoken to earlier.

Industry committee  We're just in the process of developing a major application that would be linked to NEPTUNE on exactly that. CFI has established a new competition that is entertaining proposals this fall, and there will be a proposal led by the University of Victoria on wave and tidal energy.

Industry committee  I'll just take the last point first. I think the peer review is absolutely critical. I don't think any of us sitting at this table would expect to be putting a cap out to have federal dollars poured into it without a performance review.

Industry committee  Yes, absolutely, and there are plenty of precedents for that. The TRIUMF example that I talked about has a blue-ribbon panel that's specially brought in every five years to review the next annual plan and determine, based on past performance, whether further funding should be brought in.

Industry committee  That will partly depend on the terms and conditions that are associated with that funding. But if I had the ability to make that choice, it would be in the order of about 15%.

Industry committee  It's a very timely question. A week ago I was with the board of Ocean Networks Canada presenting a business plan to them. One part of that business plan is public outreach. NEPTUNE, remember, is going to be fully operational within the next year, so at this point we're talking more in terms of what will happen than what has already happened, but within that plan we have developed a number of initiatives that will indeed build on the very good exposure that we've had already.

Industry committee  As I mentioned in my opening remarks, there are models already in existence that I think are the solution to the problem. A five-year funding cycle that provides sustained and predictable funding based on peer review of performance is the way to go, in my view. We've got TRIUMF funding on that basis at the moment.

Industry committee  I think you're alluding in part to the remarks I made earlier in terms of the applications, particularly in the oceans area. We obviously chose to build NEPTUNE Canada on the Juan de Fuca plate off the west coast of North America because it is one of the world's most active tectonic plates in terms of earthquake hazard and risk.

Industry committee  Very quickly, I have two comments. One is that in the case of NEPTUNE certainly, I think one also has to look at it in terms of the return on investment for the public good. And this is in relation to many of the areas I briefly outlined in my opening remarks on the public policy applications of the research, such as hazard mitigation, sovereignty and security, resource assessment, ocean climate dynamics, and those kinds of areas where that return on investment is vital.

Industry committee  For the NEPTUNE, we have two years of short-run funding that comes from a combination of NSERC, CFI, and the province, but in each case they've indicated that this is one-time funding.