Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Kennedy, Health Canada has been leading an initiative called the organ donation and transplantation collaborative, in close collaboration with a wide range of experts, including clinicians, government officials, Canadian Blood Services, research organizations, organ donation organizations, transplant programs, patient and family groups, and other key stakeholders.
The collaborative's goal is to develop concrete and actionable options to improve organ donation and transplantation performance that meets Canadians' needs and improves patient outcomes.
The national transplant research network, which is part of the collaborative, has been funded by Dr. Strong's Canadian Institutes of Health Research. You've been funding them for five years, during which it provided new knowledge that is helping inform important policy decisions. Your Canadian Institutes of Health Research has recently provided a short-term extension of $1 million per year for three years for infrastructure support.
The national transplant research network is bringing $57.3 million in committed partnerships to the table to continue their work. To secure these commitments they have requested $30 million from the federal government for their five-year proposal that will build on the government's previous investment to place Canada as a global leader in research and innovation in donation and transplantation. This will be entirely complementary to Health Canada's ongoing work to fix the system by providing the new knowledge needed to move forward. This program has proven to be a high-profile international success and its continuation will assist the minister in meeting her mandate towards saving the lives of Canadians needing transplants.
As you know, our committee sees research as the key to driving the innovation we need to improve donation rates and outcomes. Therefore, I wonder if you can share what next steps are being planned by your departments specifically to support the world-leading research that is being led by the Canadian donation and transplantation research program network.