Industry committee  You know what I'd do? I'd start using renewable energy. This is the energy of the future. I'd do an analysis. We don't have time to talk about it here, but take the Bay of Fundy project. Do it. It's very simple. Governments can't pick winners or pick companies or even technologies for that matter.

Industry committee  When you pick a project, it fulfills a need. I'm not saying we can't find good things to do and open the door to Canadians to respond. We're going to have to have clean energy in this country. Let's get on with building it and open the door. Put in policies that make it possible for skilled Canadians to respond.

Industry committee  I think the question was about good ones and bad ones. I mentioned the unsolicited proposal program. In those days, the purchasing agent was DSS, the Department of Supply and Services. You could make a proposal to DSS and they would shop it around the departments, asking, “Does somebody want to buy one of these things?”

Industry committee  Germany has become the world leader, and there's a very simple reason for that. When I first entered this industry in 2002, the Japanese were the leader. Then the Germans invented something called the feed-in tariff. Almost all the renewable energies--with the exception of big hydro, which has been with us for a long time--are supported by subsidies these days.

Industry committee  Absolutely.

Industry committee  I've repeated this so often I could do it in my sleep. A government has three levers to encourage industry: procurement, fiddling around with the tax system, and granting, in that order of priority. I guess all of you know I was one of the founders of MacDonald Dettwiler, which had something to do with the design of Radarsat-2.

Industry committee  We built that company because we were in the level of technology most of your customers or governments are in. It's just the level of technology that does that. We diversified our marketplace by quickly becoming an exporter. But we used to do the first system--we still do, I guess--by having it procured by the Canadian government.

Industry committee  Good afternoon. Thanks for the opportunity to talk to you. I'll tell you a little about Day4 Energy to begin with, and then make some other comments. We're in the business of manufacturing a new type of solar panel. It performs better and opens the door to new innovations in that field.