Human Resources committee  At that time, as far as I know, no.

Human Resources committee  Did you say BIOTECanada?

Human Resources committee  Certainly in terms of monetizing a lot of its products and services, there was much more going on from 1997 to 2001. Then they shifted the other way. Specifically for the people we were trying to approach, which were students and unemployed or underemployed people, the cost for service, obviously, was a barrier.

Human Resources committee  Yes, through both our job board and some of our products and services, we have a cost-per-use recovery method.

Human Resources committee  That is correct.

Human Resources committee  BioTalent Canada, as it was actually founded, was a breakaway from BIOTECanada, as you mentioned. It was a subcommittee, and then it became an autonomous organization. Our board of directors and our bylaws mandate that we have 15 to 18 industry people, people who are actively in the industry and are plugged into the biotech industry, which is where—

Human Resources committee  They may be indirectly, perhaps, but not directly.

Human Resources committee  That's correct. We present two things. Number one is the path of least resistance towards a biotech job. We also do a great deal of branding for biotech as an alternative career path. Immigrants and some Canadians who are not able to be credentialled or licensed in their chosen professions often don't realize that biotechnology can be a very lucrative and productive alternative career path.

Human Resources committee  I think for the biotech model, you have a disparity. You have the 20% that are the really super-big companies, such as the pharmaceuticals, which require a great deal of regulatory lobbying and a great deal of advocacy on their part. That's a great deal of what the member associations do for them.

Human Resources committee  Absolutely. We're currently investigating them now and I certainly didn't want to state that there was absolutely no way that BioTalent Canada or other sector councils could find the funding. However, more specifically, in terms of how each of these verticals is going to pursue filling in of those skills gaps within the verticals, the fact that we are no longer bound by a fundamental mandate or have any encouragement to actually work together, other than hopefully resource-sharing and operational efficiencies, I believe, may be a problem for the government and for Canada in terms of its approach to international sector skills.

Human Resources committee  Certainly both allegorical and empirical research have indicated that more people use social media in order to find out what jobs are out there and add up their skills. So as more businesses—and even small businesses trying to preserve resources—are shifting everything to an online search system, I believe this problem, if it continues, is only going to grow.

Human Resources committee  $25 million. It's a moving target. It's between $25 million and $40 million for the coming years.

Human Resources committee  Depending on what you're talking about, as I explained, about 80% of the biotechnology companies currently in Canada are SMEs. We define that as small and medium enterprises of less than 50 employees. A lot of these companies are facing two challenges. Number one is that they were typically started by a scientist who may not necessarily have the business acumen to attract capital investment and who is wearing a multitude of hats.

Human Resources committee  Certainly. In terms of the specific skills, right now we are certainly looking at it in biomanufacturing. That is essentially a horizontal across many, many verticals, from agricultural and agrifood, etc. About 30% of biomanufacturers right now are looking for skills to fill those jobs.

Human Resources committee  The difference between the manufacturing—