In terms of impact, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research spend about $120 million a year on brain research. The charities spend another $20 million to $25 million.
The investment here, including the investment from the government as well as our partners, is potentially $40 million a year, so that really increases by 20% to 25% our research capacity in studying the brain and studying neurological and psychiatric conditions. So this, in our community, is a huge increase and a huge commitment from the government.
How will it help people on the ground? In our case, one of our major missions is to accelerate discoveries in the laboratory to the patient. One of the ways to do that is by an increased investment. CIHR often can only afford to fund a project at, say, $100,000 a year. If we do half a million a year, we feel we'll be able to accelerate the best ideas and the best discoveries very rapidly to the patient.
