Evidence of meeting #50 for Industry, Science and Technology in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was million.
A video is available from Parliament.
12:50 p.m.
Conservative
Gary Goodyear Conservative Cambridge, ON
—and at the same time create jobs and economic growth.
Thank you—my apologies.
12:50 p.m.
Conservative
12:50 p.m.
NDP
Kennedy Stewart NDP Burnaby—Douglas, BC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
In the House, Minister Goodyear, you're fond of saying that Canada is facing a brain gain, not a brain drain. I'm just wondering on which figures you base these assertions and if you could perhaps table these.
12:55 p.m.
Conservative
Gary Goodyear Conservative Cambridge, ON
We have seen.... I can get you the figures, actually. They're not my figures. They're figures I get when I talk to university presidents about who they've had come in, where they're coming from, and so on, and it's information that I'm getting from my stakeholders, who tell me they have now had more applications—applications they can't fill—from folks in France, Germany.... Even our Canada Excellence Research Chairs program, which has been in the media of late, is mostly made up of people from other countries.
12:55 p.m.
NDP
Kennedy Stewart NDP Burnaby—Douglas, BC
Well, this is anecdotal evidence that you're giving me. I'm wondering if you're tracking this in any kind of systematic way.
12:55 p.m.
Conservative
Gary Goodyear Conservative Cambridge, ON
Since the introduction of these programs such as the Canada Excellence Research Chairs, for example, and the Vanier program, which are new and, in my opinion, are some of the best in the world.... I would say it's too early to give you that data. It is anecdotal; I would agree with you on that. But we are tracking it, and I'm certain that Statistics Canada will have that report for you to read.
12:55 p.m.
Voices
Oh, oh!
12:55 p.m.
NDP
Kennedy Stewart NDP Burnaby—Douglas, BC
Well, in fact, Stats Canada does have a little report, and it does say—
12:55 p.m.
NDP
Kennedy Stewart NDP Burnaby—Douglas, BC
—that for our scientific staff in the federal government, we used to employ about 39,000, and now we employ about 37,000. So we've lost 1,500 positions over the last year—
12:55 p.m.
Conservative
Gary Goodyear Conservative Cambridge, ON
Well, hang on a second. I think we would have to break that down. Being a scientist yourself who has gotten funding from SSHRC and other places, you would know that throwing a number out like that without—
12:55 p.m.
Conservative
Gary Goodyear Conservative Cambridge, ON
—telling us how many of those people are administrative and not researchers--
12:55 p.m.
NDP
Kennedy Stewart NDP Burnaby—Douglas, BC
Most are social scientists. Most come from Statistics Canada themselves—
12:55 p.m.
Conservative
Gary Goodyear Conservative Cambridge, ON
Most have applied for research funding, and we have a very strict peer review process in this country. We can't fund every researcher. I'm very proud of our peer review—
12:55 p.m.
NDP
Kennedy Stewart NDP Burnaby—Douglas, BC
Yes, these are internally, though.... These are employed internally by the federal government in places like the NRC, for example. So these are 1,500 positions that have been lost over the last year, according to StatsCan. I'm wondering if you have—
12:55 p.m.
Conservative
12:55 p.m.
NDP
12:55 p.m.
Conservative
Gary Goodyear Conservative Cambridge, ON
You just heard me say there were not 1,500 positions lost at the NRC last year, nor—
12:55 p.m.
Conservative
