Finance committee  All of the researchers like me who work within hospitals are also university professors. I'm a professor at the University of Toronto. We take graduate students, and we teach at the University of Toronto.

Finance committee  We're not duplicating. We are doing different research; we're working in different areas. The children's research is at the Hospital for Sick Children.

Finance committee  There's no question that increasing physical activity in children—in fact, in all of us—is a good idea. But I think we need to know more about the differences between children; some children, and indeed adults, are more susceptible to obesity and more susceptible to cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

Finance committee  Well, there clearly are genetic components; they are not the only things, but in obesity, as with almost all our attributes, there is a genetic component.

Finance committee  That's right. It's the young people who've come back because of the improved environment here that we will lose again.

Finance committee  That's right. We only get indirect costs on the federal grants, but we really recognize the importance of voluntary agencies as well. There has to be a balance between the two.

Finance committee  I think that is an important component. Addressing issues of air quality is important. However, while that's part of what is causing an epidemic of asthma, it may not be the only thing. We need to understand more about the causes, and also how to really control asthma in the population.

Finance committee  Yes, one of the thirteen institutes is the Institute of Human Development, Child and Youth Health. It's very important.

Finance committee  Yes, CIHR has invested in what it calls the four pillars of health research—discovery, sort of biomedical research; applied research; clinical research; and applications to the population and the health system. They are trying to find out how to deliver the results, how to get the return on investment from the clinical work into the health of Canadians.

Finance committee  Are we competing for research dollars? As researchers, we compete. In other words, there are researchers within universities, there are researchers within hospitals, and we all compete for research funds through granting agencies in the peer review system, but we're not directly competing with the universities.

Finance committee  This is the cost of doing research. It's particularly important for research institutes such as ours in a hospital, where in order to pay salaries, pay researchers, pay for heating and lighting, all the background indirect costs of running a lab.... We have no funds from either federal or provincial agencies other than the indirect costs that come with grants.

Finance committee  I think one has to recognize that in the last few years there has been a major reinvestment into health research in Canada that has led to a real growth in health research and health researchers, but what's happening is that it is suddenly plateauing and not continuing to grow. The researchers who have joined and come to this country are here and are applying for grants; we're seeing applications for grants going like this and the research funding going like that.

Finance committee  I'm Dr. Janet Rossant, the chief of research at the Hospital for Sick Children here in Toronto. I'm going to talk to you today about the importance of health research. Research is integral to the health care mission at the Hospital for Sick Children. Our vision is: healthier children, a better world.