Industry committee  I have a couple numbers for you. It's been estimated that, for Canada to get to net zero, which is one of our objectives if we want to have a livable planet, it's going to take Canada $2 trillion. For the globe, it's $197 trillion. Now, we can sell to that $197-trillion market as well as to the $2-trillion market in Canada.

Industry committee  It's estimated it will take $197 trillion of investment for this planet to operate.

Industry committee  There's a range of numbers, but that's one of the numbers I've read.

Industry committee  The spin-off business would be incredible. To deploy $197 trillion would be phenomenally difficult to do, but these are mammoth opportunities.

Industry committee  There's certainly a role to be played to get us there. You know, government funding and other sources of capital are going to be needed for us to get that $2 trillion to get Canada to net zero.

Industry committee  It's for scaling seed funding—series C and series D—and also for project finance funding. Those are all gaps. Whether it's fair to expect the Government of Canada to solve all of those problems, I don't know. However, those are gaps our industry feels when it goes to get funding.

Industry committee  Yes, SDTC does address some of that, for sure, as was talked about earlier. It's taking that first commercialization step, developing consortiums and proving out the technology. There is an abundance of capital available for software solutions. They are low capital-intensive solutions.

Industry committee  Again, I would say that if there was additional funding in the venture capital sector, it could benefit the clean-tech space. If there was additional funding available at the seed stage, in particular—that's often a challenge—and first of kind.... I don't mean to repeat myself.

Industry committee  Yes, we do, among others.

Industry committee  I would reiterate that some of them have been lost. With some of them, there's opportunity to recuperate and build new.

Industry committee  Canada has competitive advantages in a number of areas. I will highlight three. One is in water. There are more water patents filed in the province of Ontario than there are in any other jurisdiction in the world. Carbon capture, utilization and storage is going to be key to decarbonizing the industrial sector all across Canada.

Industry committee  Thank you, Mr. Masse. We're here representing the clean-tech sector. We're not here representing SDTC. We're empathetic to the situation that those employees suffered and we feel for them. All I can say is that we're here to say that the clean-tech sector needs funding if we want to see it continue to flourish as it has.

Industry committee  Some 24,500 employees at Canadian companies have received support from SDTC. That's helped them become competitive on the world stage and generated high-paying, future-based jobs all across the country. That has absolutely been beneficial. However, you certainly have to respect the Auditor General's report and make sure that it's compliant and makes sense.

Industry committee  I think my colleagues have done a good job. I'll just comment that the valley of death that often exists when a company comes out of a lab and then tries to commercialize is one that exists in many technologies. It's not just in clean tech. The hardware is particularly difficult, as Mr.

Industry committee  Thank you for your question. I would say that we're here representing the Canadian clean-tech sector. We're trying to represent the workers who are in those companies in your riding and other people's ridings. They are being impacted by the lack of funding or funding that's been frozen, which has interrupted those companies.