Genome Canada will develop a strategic plan and its investments will undergo a strategic review in conjunction with Industry Canada as it sets the stage for a second five-year mandate. The federal Budget issued the directives along with $60 million in bridge funding to the arm’s length agency to tide it over for another year and the end of its first five-year funding agreement, ending March 31/05. The Genome Canada board will meet May 6 in Winnipeg to determine how the new money will be spent

The latest funding brings the total federal contribution to Genome Canada to $435 million. That compares to the $750 million it has been seeking for the past two years to launch its second five-year phase.

“The $60 million will allow us to go a little bit further using a more top-down approach,” says Genome Canada president/ CEO Dr Martin Godbout. “We have a plan and the $60 million is to build up a long-term strategy and invest in large-scale genomics and proteomics projects. I’m confident we will go forward. ”

It’s a view reinforced by Joe Fontana, parliamentary secretary for science and small business.

“Some people have indicated that Genome Canada is duplicating,” he says. “We wanted to give them enough to allow them to do another (funding) round, to keep going until they come forward and give us their new outlook and strategic plan.”

Genome Canada has already put considerable effort into evaluating its projects and pinpointing weaknesses for improvement. At the competition level, the agency had all applications reviewed by KPMG, while the agency itself was examined by Treasury Board (TB) through its result-based management accountability framework. TB engaged Bearing Point to undertake the Framework study of Genome Canada. It examined each of Genome Canada’s nine objectives as defined in its contribution agreement with Industry Canada and produced a document with seven recommendations.

“It’s a long process but we achieved a very good result. We now know where the weaknesses are and will work on them,” says Godbout. “I would recommend it to others although it requires a lot of time and energy.”

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