Paul Dufour

The provinces, the feds & national S&T building

By Paul Dufour

With the announcement in March that the Quebec government was shutting down its long-time science advisory body, the Conseil de la science et de la technologie (CST), a productive and decidedly public chapter in Canadian science policy efforts has come to an end (R$, April 9/10). The last of the original science advisory councils, the CST has been an important contributor to the debate on innovation in that province for almost 30 years, as well as playing a critical role with its other Canadian counterparts to help shape a larger policy agenda for S&T across the country.

Indeed, along with 11 other advisory councils, including the federal National Advisory Board on S&T (NABST) and the Science Council of Canada, the CST was a key player in the National Forum of Science and Technology Advisory Councils founded in 1989. That forum had a mandate to "examine issues affecting Canada`s ability to develop and apply science and technology; and to formulate advice to influence Canadian's national and provincial science policies for the enhancement of the Canadian economy."

There were many attempts at strengthening pan-Canadian science, technology and innovation since the early 60s, but with the arrival of the Progressive Conservative Mulroney administration in 1984, a concerted effort began in national consultation on S&T, involving all key sectors, especially the private sector. How did this come about?

The nation-building exercise was kicked off by the release in February 1985 of a working paper by the federal minister of state for Science and Technology (MOSST) — in part the result of a federal-provincial meeting of ministers responsible for S&T held in Calgary. In addition to a series of statistical profiles of Canada's S&T performance, the report brought forward a discussion of four key themes (by now perennial): increasing private sector investment in innovation; accelerating the rate of diffusion of technology; redefining the role of government R&D; and recognizing the importance of academic R&D.

A major national forum sponsored by the federal government and hosted by the Science Council of Canada took place in Winnipeg in June 1986. During his opening speech, the MOSST minister indicated that he was looking for views on how the $4.2-billion federal S&T envelope could be more effectively spent to forge better linkages between universities, research institutes, colleges, private sector firms, government labs and schools.

The minister had earlier requested the Science Council of Canada to undertake an evaluation of the effectiveness of government funding of private sector R&D in Canada. That report noted that government was underfunding private sector R&D when compared to other countries, but more importantly warned that R&D was just one element of the overall innovation process. It also noted that governments were not relating Canada's overall R&D policy within the context of a coherent set of sectoral strategies (this may resonate given the current review exercise of R&D spending underway at the federal level).

On March 4, 1987, prime minister Mulroney delivered a major address on R&D at the University of Waterloo. The speech was an open challenge to the private sector to increase its R&D efforts, and to redouble efforts to transfer technology out of university and government labs into industry. Mulroney closed with an appeal to all stakeholders to understand how Canada's technology can strengthen national sovereignty and territorial integrity in such areas as the Arctic and protecting the country's environmental heritage. NABST —chaired by the PM —had also been announced earlier to give him guidance on key S&T policy issues. On March 12, the National Science and Technology Policy was signed in Vancouver by the federal, provincial and territorial ministers responsible for science and technology. The policy (the first-and last- of its kind in Canadian history) outlined six objectives:

* improving industrial innovation and technology diffusion

* developing strategic technologies

* ensuring the necessary pool of highly qualified people

* supporting basic and applied research and development

* dealing with the impact of technological change in society

* promoting a more science-oriented culture

To implement these objectives, a Council of Science and Technology Ministers (CSTM) was established and an action plan was developed to push forward each of the areas identified in the national policy. The federal response to this policy was InnovAction. Subtitled "a Canadian Strategy for Science and Technology", the five-track strategy put forward $100 million in support of a federal microelectronics strategy; a new technology centres policy for the management of key federal labs and external technology centres aimed at promoting technology diffusion; funding for the Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCE); a Canada Scholarship Program for undergraduate students; new funding for unsolicited proposals program for government procurement; increased funds for the Industrial Research Assistance Program (IRAP); and, an increment to the matching policy funding for university research.

Further, a decision framework for S&T in the government's management of S&T activities was announced. Prepared by MOSST at the request of the PM, the framework was designed to assist science-based departments and agencies to manage their S&T activities. It was intended for use as the basis for an annual overview of federal S&T strategic directions for cabinet and NABST.

In November 1987, the CSTM presented a discussion paper on Canada's R&D efforts to the First Ministers' Conference in Toronto. The paper suggested a number of steps that ministers could take to improve the situation. Among these was that the concept of a national NCE should be given careful consideration and R&D priorities within industry be developed on a sector-by-sector basis. The last meeting of the CSTM took place in 1992 in Ottawa. The discussions included matters such as improving access to Environment Canada's Green Plan, the Canadian Space Agency's future directions; and whether to form a national network on software engineering.

While other major policy exercises were also conducted during that period, the political momentum generated by the pan-Canadian efforts to strengthen national S&T continued. Federal, provincial and territorial ministers responsible for research, science and technology met from time to time. At the penultimate Quebec City meeting of this group in 2001, the co-chair Brian Tobin, federal minister of Industry, and Pauline Marois, Québec's minister for Research, Science and Technology, led the debate on how Canada could move its R&D expenditures to GDP ratio from 15th to 5th by 2010.

Other issues were also addressed including the impact of the new Canada Foundation for Innovation on the provinces, a report from the Québec CST on the status of nanotechnology, implementation of a national broadband strategy, provincial funding for Genome Canada's regional centres, and a major discussion on the issue of indirect costs of federally funded university research and commercialization of university research. Ministers were also briefed on the proposal for a Canadian Academies of Science.

Several principles for future interaction recognizing the differing jurisdictions, responsibilities and priorities within the federation were also debated. Finally, a commitment was made to develop a federal-provincial-territorial network for communication and information exchange on research, S&T and innovation.

The federal-provincial-territorial exercises of the 80s and early 90s were instructive on how S&T can contribute prominently to economic and social development. They also helped shape an international image of a concerted Canada. As minister of state for science and technology Frank Oberle said in 1986: "If European nations have found it necessary to join their efforts in order to use S&T to maintain prosperity, it seems that our ten provinces, (two) territories, and a federal government must also see the need to join efforts. Why should Canada not be able to match the efforts of the best?"

If Canada is to compete with the best and become a truly global knowledge power, leadership in federal-provincial-territorial cooperation at the highest levels in science and technology surely matters.

Paul Dufour is a veteran observer of Canadian science policy. He can be reached at paulicyworks@gmail.com.