Good morning, Mr. Chair.
Thank you for the invitation to be in Fredericton this morning. Thank you also for travelling across the country to conduct your hearings.
I really appreciate the invitation. I listened in on the last panel, and I was struck that the farmers, foresters, and fishers who presented all made the point about the importance of research in their future.
As this is my first time before this committee since the last election, let me congratulate each of you for your election to Parliament and your dedication to serving your constituents and building a better Canada.
My name is Paul Davidson and I am the president and chief executive officer of Universities Canada. Our association speaks for 97 universities that work to advance the cause of higher education, research and innovation in Canada.
Because we're here in Fredericton, I have to mention that the University of New Brunswick was named as the most entrepreneurial university in the country by Startup Canada in 2014.
But just in the last week, think about the news that UNB has shared. It's opened a new maker space, open to engineers and arts students, to help create the new economy. It's received $1 million from RBC to advance entrepreneurial activity among students. And IBM has selected UNB as one of only eight universities in North America to advance its cybersecurity project with Watson. That's pretty good for a small, mid-class city with a world-class university.
It's also home to St. Thomas University, one of Canada's outstanding liberal arts universities. One of your House of Commons colleagues, Matt DeCourcey, an alum from there, has written extensively about the importance of the liberal arts, a view we share.
All Canadian universities have stories of excellence like this to share, and on their behalf, I invite you to visit our campuses to see the phenomenal work being done by students, faculty, and researchers, and to give you a glimpse into Canada's future.
I'm very lucky. I spend about 100 days a year on Canada's campuses, and whenever I go, I feel 30 years younger and I can see 50 years into the future of Canada.
Before talking about budget 2017, I want to note the really important investments that budget 2016 made: the biggest investments in discovery research in over a decade that will let discovery lead, which in turn leads to dramatic innovation; changes in student financial assistance to make post-secondary education more attainable; and finally, the new strategic investment fund, a smart investment in university infrastructure that pays dividends now and in the future. It was turned around quickly by our members, and we now have work under way right across the country.
But this is about budget 2017. Over the course of the summer, we have been pleased to be involved in a number of the consultations the government has been holding, including on the new innovation agenda, the review of fundamental science, the finance minister's advisory council on economic growth, the immigration consultation, and the international assistance review.
I make this point because universities touch Canadians all across the country and in all these policy areas, and across all these submissions you'll see our consistent message that universities mobilize people and ideas for an innovative, inclusive, and prosperous Canada.
Budget 2017 presents an opportunity for Canada to position itself as an international centre for discovery and innovation, to invest in our youth, and to advance reconciliation between indigenous and non-indigenous people.
Let's talk about research and innovation for a moment. Again, I note the theme right across the panel about the importance of investing in research for an innovative future. Our recommendations in this regard include providing sustained and transformative investments in discovery research through the federal research granting councils. The previous government did make investments in research, but we have to note that over the last decade we've fallen from third in the world to eighth in the world in terms of research investment. We have to get back to third, and we have to get back to globally competitive research levels.
We also need to provide sustained support for the Canada Foundation for Innovation to address operation and maintenance pressures on existing research facilities and to allow for better planning horizons for bold transformative initiatives. We're also asking that the CFI be given a mandate to lead a national big science strategy.
Finally, with regard to research, we ask that the government provide support to address gaps in Canada's research and innovation ecosystem, including a new fund to support international research collaboration with partner countries. Previous panellists have talked about the impact of TPP and CETA. There are research opportunities that we can take advantage of in a globalized world.
Our second area of interest is around mobilizing Canadian talent. The investments we make in students today will determine Canada's prosperity for decades to come. To succeed in the ever-changing and competitive global economy, Canada's next generation of entrepreneurs, researchers, and innovators must be bold, well educated, flexible, and open minded. Global study and work-integrated learning opportunities are fundamental to developing Canadian talent.
We heard just a few moments ago about the importance of experiential education. We strongly endorse that theme. We're proud that more than half of all university undergraduates have some form of work experience in the course of their studies, but we simply don't have enough placements with employers, especially with small and medium-sized enterprises.
We're pleased that RBC president Dave McKay and other business leaders have set an ambitious goal of co-ops and internships for 100% of students. He sees the compelling benefits of engaging students in the big challenges facing the future. For this we recommend that government invest in new measures to incentivize the private and not-for-profit sectors to create more paid co-op and internship placements for university students across all academic disciplines. To mobilize our talent we also recommend an investment in opportunities to double the number of Canadian students participating annually in the study of broad experiences. We have to do that. We've done a very good job in attracting international students to Canada and we do need to do more on that, but the percentage of Canadian students who have international experience hasn't changed in 30 years. We are in a global economy, but our trading numbers are actually softening. We need to equip a generation that knows about the new economic opportunities around the world.
The third area of our recommendations fall within the orbit of indigenous education. Universities are helping develop tomorrow's indigenous leaders and for this we recommend that the government commit to additional direct financial assistance for indigenous students pursuing a university education, invest in new scholarships to support more indigenous students to pursue graduate and post-doctoral studies, and provide new support to scale up successful institutional programs and to create new programs on and off-campus, and support indigenous student access, retention, and success at university.
Thank you for your attention. I would be pleased to discuss these recommendations in further detail.
Thank you.