Evidence of meeting #5 for Finance in the 41st Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was industry.
A video is available from Parliament.
1:55 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative James Rajotte
I appreciate that very much.
My second question, for Ms. Cannon, is really the teleological question of why—why you are putting forward your proposal. That's the first big question.
The second one is why 15? Why not 5? Why not 30? Why have you and other presidents decided on 15 as the number of institutions that should be put forward? Then, to answer the basic teleological question, why should the government invest in this?
1:55 p.m.
Vice-Chair, President and Vice-Chancellor, University of Calgary, U15 - Group of Canadian Research Universities
Maybe I'll start with the second question, why 15. We are here as the U15 to talk about the ACRE fund as a new opportunity for Canada. But to be clear, this is fully supported by the AUCC, which is inclusive of the 97 universities in this country. So ACRE has the full support of the AUCC membership as well.
This program actually presents a tremendous opportunity for Canada. I think, as we have heard thePrime Minister say, this is Canada's moment. It's about shining on the international stage; it's about being bold and positioning ourselves as we head toward our sesquicentennial.
This program is about excellence—excellence in the way the funding is allocated—and it's inclusive. If you have Tri-Council funding, you are able to access the funds through the ACRE opportunity. It is also built on excellence in terms of deliverables. Understanding that as government you're looking for payback if you're investing money, what are you going to get? Three areas: global excellence, talent, and knowledge translation....
This program is very complementary to other programs that the government has launched. It provides institutional flexibility, because each institution can determine how they use the funds in those three areas. At the University of Calgary, we're very strong on unconventional oil and gas; we're looking at increasing research opportunities in that area. That would be a natural home for part of those funds from our side. In other parts of the country, other institutions would use those funds differently.
It's flexible, it's built on excellence, and it helps build Canada's brand internationally.
1:55 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative James Rajotte
Okay. I appreciate that very much as well.
I want to go to Mr. Gupta. Concerning your adoption and use of technology, it may interest you to know that this committee is at the forefront in moving Parliament. We're the first to put our submissions online. We're doing a paperless project with all of our iPads starting this year. We're in fact trying to do what you're suggesting.
I have just a very quick question about the adoption and use of technology. You talk about the private sector, but there is the public sector as well. Do you do work with Canada Health Infoway on the adoption of technology particularly in the area of health care?
1:55 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Information Technology Association of Canada
Yes, we do. In fact, over the last couple of days we did sign a MOU with Canada Health Infoway to start looking at certification of health software across the country, just because we have 14 jurisdictions and every jurisdiction's needs are different. We're trying to find a way to simplify and standardize those so the throughput for R and D and costs could go down. We do work with Canada Health Infoway.
1:55 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative James Rajotte
And you're trying to transition it more where it's more the patient in terms of accessing and using the technology? Right now, I think a lot of the physicians and institutions are, but fewer patients are.
1:55 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Information Technology Association of Canada
It will impact both the patient side and the clinician side, because informatics covers the whole domain at this stage, so patient care will definitely get improved. If you have a better technology implemented in hospitals, the wait times obviously will go down.
It is a big issue for our country, the amount of money that we spend on the health sector, and every jurisdiction is slightly different from a vendor's point of view. Everything is custom, so nothing could be scaled and nothing could be exported. We're trying to simplify those things to increase the throughput.
1:55 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative James Rajotte
My last topic is a big topic, and I don't think I'll have much time to get into it with you and Mr. Aronshtam, but I've been to the San Francisco area in the last two years in the fall, and this year I was at Google and Twitter. I see that in your R and D tax incentives ranking, the U.S. isn't even on the list anywhere, and yet you could arguably say that an area like Mountain View, California is perhaps the most innovative region on the planet. Shouldn't we be studying more of what they're doing at companies like that and regions like that?
I would like to—and I think some of my colleagues probably raised this earlier—have a little more focus on what the private sector can do to drive innovation. We do hear a lot about what the government ought to do in terms of venture capital funds, tax credits, and other measures, but the private sector has to step up as well in those areas.
2 p.m.
Global Managing Director, Research and Development and Government Incentives, Deloitte LLP
Well, there's no question that the private sector has to step up. In my view, actually, the private sector does a lot of R and D. I think the challenge is how we keep it in Canada. Even the companies you named, they do R and D all over the world. They don't just do it in the Valley. I think the real question for me is, how do we make sure it happens in Canada?
I do think a lot of governments today compete with very generous incentives for the really attractive R and D. I think that's where Canada also needs to understand what our policy and strategy will be. It's fun to visit Silicon Valley, but they are part of a very large global machine, and it's just one area. Amazing R and D happens in every corner of the world today.
2 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative James Rajotte
I have a response to that, but I'm out of time and our session is up. Hopefully we'll continue that discussion another time.
I want to thank all of our guest witnesses for being here and responding to our questions.
Colleagues, thanks to all of you for your time.
The meeting is adjourned.