Government committed to basic research

By Dr Gary Goodyear

From insulin to the pacemaker, from the telephone to the Blackberry, Canadian researchers and innovative companies have made, and continue to make, discoveries that have changed the lives of people around the world.  The Government of Canada understands that the capacity to innovate is essential to help our economy recover quickly, create jobs for the future and improve the quality of life for Canadians.

Supporting innovation is especially important during the current global economic slowdown. Countries that invest heavily in research and development during times of economic difficulty emerge from recession stronger and more quickly than those that do not.

Our government is committed to basic, discovery-oriented research. Compared to other nations, Canada is extremely good at supporting university-based research.  We invest more in higher-education research and development than any other country in the Group of Seven as a proportion of GDP.  We are second only to Sweden in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and well ahead of the United States (which ranks 17th).

Where Canada lags behind other countries, however, is in the area of commercialization – getting innovations from the lab to the marketplace where Canadians and people from around the world can benefit from our newest discoveries. That's why two years ago, prime minister Stephen Harper launched our government's Science and Technology Strategy, Mobilizing Science and Technology to Canada's Advantage. 

We want to help Canadians turn their ideas into innovations, get discoveries into the marketplace, and to make better use of our talented researchers. To this end, our government has put in place a strong foundation of support for science and technology over the last few years and backed up that support with significant new investments.

Over the last three years, we've provided $1.3 billion to the Canada Foundation for Innovation to develop, recruit and retain the best researchers in the world. 

We created the Vanier Scholarships, launched the Industrial R&D Internship program, and increased funding for the Canada Graduate Scholarships to encourage and develop more research talent.

In the past three budgets, we've increased funding for Canada's three granting councils by $205 million per year, providing more opportunities for scientists and researchers across the country to do more research. As part of the government's commitment to ensure value for taxpayer dollars, the granting councils identified areas within their organizations where funding could be used more effectively. We are reinvesting these funds in science and technology programs. 

We have funded large-scale science projects like CANARIE, Canadian Light Source and now the Institute for Quantum Computing. We've also opened Centres of Excellence for Commercialization and Research (CECRs) to commercialize Canada's leading-edge technologies, products and services.

Our government recognizes the importance of Genome Canada and its work, so we have provided it with stable, predictable, long-term funding, and I look forward to continuing to work with it as a funding partner.

This year we're adding $200 million to the National Research Council's Industrial Research Assistance Program to help small- and medium-sized businesses innovate and conduct on-site research. We have also embarked on an unprecedented $2-billion program to repair, refurbish and expand research facilities at colleges and universities across Canada.

In total, our government committed $5.1 billion in new investments for science and technology in our Economic Action Plan.  Per capita, that's more than twice what the United States government has earmarked for science and technology in its own stimulus package.

Our government wants to attract the best researchers, provide them with the best equipment, and help them make more of their innovations available to Canadians so that we continue to see success in science and technology.

Dr Gary Goodyear is minister of state for science and technology and a Conservative MP representing Cambridge ON.