Biopharm, green technologies get boost in Quebec Budget

The first Budget of the recently elected minority Parti Quebecois government contains a number of significant measures related to R&D and S&T. They include a $200-million fund for green technology development and transportation electrification, a boost in the tax credit for biopharmaceutical R&D salaries, $125 million for public-private research partnerships in the pharmaceutical sector and the announcement of a forthcoming national research and innovation policy. Opposition parties are expected to allow the Budget to pass when it is tabled in the legislature.

The Budget was introduced by Nicolas Marceau, minister of Finance and the Economy, who asserted in his Budget speech that the $150-million pledge by the previous Liberal administration to update the Quebec Research and Innovation Strategy (QRIS) was never funded. "We were stunned to discover that the necessary amounts had not been provided for in its budgetary framework," said Marceau.

In response, the PQ government is finalizing a national research and innovation policy with transitional funding of $40 million to "be allocated to research and innovation activities for a total of $69 million." The funding will extend support for activities under the current QRIS for one year beyond its FY12-13 mandate.

Research and innovation was front and centre in the Budget papers, which included an 84-page document detailing the measures it says will address challenges to the provincial innovation system.

Green technology development and transportation electrification receives $200 million from the province's Climate Change Action Plan to "fund initiatives aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions".

The biopharmaceutical sector is the focus of several measures. They include: an increase in the refundable tax credit for R&D salaries from 17.5% to 27.5% at a cost of $25 million annually; $125 million over five years in matching funds for a private-public research partnerships aimed at attracting new investments to the province; and, the elimination of the 15-year rule that "authorizes reimbursement of an innovative drug by Quebec's public prescription drug insurance plan for 15 years, even if an equivalent and less expensive generic drug is available".

R$