Industry committee  I think in representing the Fédération des chambres de commerce du Québec, we're open to an open market as far as the auctions. What will the government do with the money from the auction? This is something we haven't heard about yet. I think we need to be reassured that some o

Industry committee  Thanks a lot. Goodbye.

Industry committee  What's key here, and I was mentioning it earlier, is that a lot of SMEs in Quebec are not aware of or familiar with some of these programs. There's some promotion and awareness to be created around these programs, which by the way are very good. The question now is on having the

Industry committee  Mobile applications are easier to understand for these SMEs across Quebec, as they see value using mobile applications at a low cost, and they can actually see the ROI in a short period of time.

Industry committee  It's a lot of information that we're throwing at you, but in a nutshell, the Fédération des chambres de commerce is very active within the committee I'm chairing, and also in working with the provincial government to make sure that the program I was mentioning earlier, tax credi

Industry committee  I think the role of the IT committee of the Fédération des chambres de commerce du Québec is actually to promote the adoption of technology. We call it technology adoption for prosperity, which is TAP. It's a program we're putting in place with the Fédération des chambres de comm

Industry committee  But what I'm saying is that there are existing programs and there's a lack of promotion of those programs to SMEs, especially in Quebec. I met with Développement économique Canada and the BDC, and we were actually very surprised to see that those programs existed. I think there

Industry committee  Pardon?

Industry committee  It's a key point. I think the promotion of an innovation culture in Quebec and in Canada should be undertaken by the federal government.

Industry committee  Yes.

Industry committee  I can give you the example of what the Government of Quebec is doing with tax credits for e-business development. That program was implemented about 10 years ago and will end in 2015. It has been a conduit for digital economy in Quebec. Companies—both SMEs and large businesses—h

Industry committee  To your point, I just want to mention that Développement économique Canada actually have some very good programs for infrastructure investment for SMEs. The problem—and it's one of the recommendations I just shared with you today—is that it's not known. I think that's an issue.

Industry committee  Mrs. Bertrand, I would have liked to hear your opinion. I think there is a great deal to be done when it comes to the upcoming spectrum auctions. It is important to make broadband spectrum available in telecommunications. That brings me to another very important debate in telec

Industry committee  I think that companies in general should follow the federal government's leadership when it comes to the implementation of a digital economy policy. The Conservative government has already made announcements about the implementation of those modules, but there's still a lot of w

Industry committee  Mr. Chair, thank you very much for the opportunity to speak to the committee today. As you know, technological innovation has always affected the way we do things and has directly contributed to global economic growth. Historically, Canada and Quebec have always been symbols in