Science and Research committee  Thank you for the question, which I will answer based on two aspects. First, there is a global aspect, which consists of industrial strategies that affect the three most important considerations for all government investments: digital transition, a more resilient economy in response to geopolitical changes and global changes in the value chain.

Science and Research committee  I will consult my colleagues and then I could provide the committee with some comments on our strategy.

Science and Research committee  You are talking about the growth of—

Science and Research committee  That's a global economic phenomenon, stemming from changes in every industry and area of the economy. Technology has enabled every sector to reap the benefits of intangibles. It's really the shift from tangible industries where the fundamentals of intellectual property potentially looked very different in a world in which you made physical things that weren't necessarily assisted by technology towards an increasing amount of the economy that's driven by data, software and services, and is even driven by the embedded nature of that data and technology even in physical industries.

Science and Research committee  For small and medium-sized businesses, that is absolutely the case. There are also other things that are perhaps more interesting to mention. For example, during the pandemic, there was growth in the online market, including on the small and medium business side. When we looked at the number of small and medium-sized enterprises that had no digital channel to access their customers at the beginning of the pandemic and the rapid growth that we saw of that capacity, we now also see that many of those same organizations are butting up against the world of intellectual property.

Science and Research committee  I'm happy to start on legislative changes and then turn to my colleague from CIPO to talk a little bit about the administration of those trademark rights. As I noted, as part of the intellectual property strategy, a number of changes were made to Canada's IP laws to ensure they were protected from potential abuses.

Science and Research committee  I'm happy to start, and again, I'll turn to my colleague for the specific role that CPO plays. One of the goals of the national intellectual property strategy was actually to increase the overall level of awareness and education across the entirety of the innovation ecosystem.

Science and Research committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm pleased to join you today from the Algonquin Anishinabe peoples' unceded and unsurrendered territory. My name is Mark Schaan. I'm the senior assistant deputy minister of strategy and innovation policy at Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada.

Industry committee  I don't have anything at the ready in terms of percentages. I would just note, though, a couple of important efforts in this space that I think are worth noting. One is that, through the national intellectual property strategy that was first unveiled in 2018 but then subsequently added to in a number of subsequent years, there's been considerable effort placed on trying to ensure the maximization of intellectual property in the Canadian space.

Industry committee  —for commercialization purposes with a tool to be able to try to understand its access and its current relevance to your goal.

Industry committee  I think it's important to note the improvements and increase in Canada's telecommunications policies. The government has added many aspects to this program in recent years. That includes not only the continuation of set-asides and some of the more stringent build-out conditions in any of our licences, but also the obligation to ensure there are significant obligations under the CRTC.

Industry committee  The government's telecommunications policy is guided by three core policy objectives, with competition as the underlying principle. Those are quality, coverage and price. In particular, the belief is that Canadians should benefit from services that are fast enough to support modern emerging applications, that are broadly available where they live and where they work, and that are available at reasonable and affordable prices.

Finance committee  It would be conjecture on my part. I think a consideration for the committee is, on the one hand, a mandatory requirement from creditors to ensure they still get paid. The pressure that comes from that is one kind of intended outcome of the bill. The other is that the company never actually gets to that, because a consideration is that lenders decide to call their loans early and decide to plunge the company into insolvency before there's actually a chance to be able to make up that gap.

Finance committee  Yes, go ahead.

Finance committee  If that company enters into either a restructuring or an insolvency policy, regardless of whether it's federally or provincially regulated, it will be subject to the rules of Bill C-228. It all comes from insolvency.