Natural Resources committee  There are two different things, I guess. We have STDC, which is attracting three to one. I expect that the EDC, in some of its investment rules, will also be attracting capital. To the extent that we engage in a more proactive way with the International Finance Corporation, that will definitely attract capital.

Natural Resources committee  That's right. As an example, Panama would be in-river hydroelectricity, but if you have not proven in-river hydroelectricity, it has technical risks.

Natural Resources committee  Yes, they help absolutely, but I would suggest we need to consider looking at some other classes of energy efficiency assets that can be deployed. You had a presentation earlier on district heating and others, some broader—

Natural Resources committee  That's a very helpful question. Bankers will look at a project in terms of different elements of the project. If you're working on renewable energy, for example, you need to have an agreement in place for your municipal waste if you're going to do waste to energy, so you need tipping fee agreements and things like that, and you need an off-take agreement, someone who will take the electricity.

Natural Resources committee  I'll speak about renewable energy just because Panama is an example of that. Canada has a real niche in small-scale hydroelectricity and small-scale wind, as an example. Panama has actually a number of hydroelectricity projects that haven't been developed because they require changing the course of rivers.

Natural Resources committee  I haven't spoken about Asia. In Japan, everybody's talking about VIP, Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Philippines. We need to actually engage with the Asian Development Bank and have a say at that table.

Natural Resources committee  Yes, if we actually combine that with engagement with the international financial institutions, to which we lend money in a very responsible and regular way.

Natural Resources committee  Things will evolve over time. However, I'd like to note that our ability to incubate companies in Canada is quite strong. Our ability to integrate those companies into our economy is still to be developed.

Natural Resources committee  Thank you for that very interesting question. There is perhaps an opportunity just to raise the familiarity with this sector among our established industries. We do find ourselves in situations where we'll fly in a large U.S. corporation to solve a problem where there are some Canadian companies that should be invited to the table.

Natural Resources committee  Obviously the government has put in place the Canadian innovation procurement initiative. Highlighting the accomplishments of Canadian SMEs and exports would be one way of doing that. There is new data to suggest that over the period from 1997 to 2007, the value of SME exports that were not resource, mine, automotive, or aerospace grew from $40 billion to $80 billion.

Natural Resources committee  Thank you. That is a very interesting question. We should obviously be very careful when it comes to our obligations under agreements on free trade and international trade. However, I think that we, as a society, could decide to invest in infrastructure for our communities that are far from the network or outside the network—self-sufficient communities.

Natural Resources committee  It's important to note that this industry is only 15 years old. The average age of the company is actually 16. The aerospace industry, as a comparative, is over 40.

Natural Resources committee  The survey concluded that the most popular programs were SHRED and SDTC's program. Another conclusion was that companies wanted various financing programs to be coordinated, so that they don't have to learn a new procedure for each program. Obviously, I should have mentioned that IRAP was among the top three programs.

Natural Resources committee  Yes, with the 5x supply chain.

Natural Resources committee  The figures we have are from the last three years. The compound annual growth rate over the recession, with all of the issues in the global credit crisis, was 18% employment growth per year.