These are changes that were implemented a couple of years ago at the federal level, and SR and ED generally provides a credit for a broad range of expenditures that businesses do on R and D.
There have been a number of criticisms of the program over the years, including its size. Some of the previous changes rebalanced the design of the program so that it was more generous for small businesses than for large ones. Refundability was introduced for small businesses, and eligibility for capital expenditures was sharply trimmed, leaving labour as the primary expenditure.
If what you're interested in doing is promoting employment in basic research within firms, that could have some positive benefit. If your goal is to generate the fruits of research, however, then it's less clear that it is the course we would have followed.