Human Resources Committee on March 26th, 2012

[Robert Henderson]

The program that we've done for the biomanufacturing and for the bio-transfer has just been launched in February. We do have a tracking tool on that right now. We had several dozen going through the program as it is, but it's not culminating until December, but all of those will be tracked as we go along.

[Kellie Leitch, Conservative, Simcoe—Grey, ON]

Excellent.

In one specific area we are running two concurrent studies at this time. One of the components of our second study is really looking at agriculture and aquaculture, areas that we have not been looking at as much. When you talk about skills shortages, people don't put those top of mind—albeit in the Canadian context, specifically in certain regions, they are challenges.

Based on the analysis that you have, where do you see the growth in these sectors? Where do you think the most substantive opportunities are going to be for people to be employed in these areas?

[Robert Henderson]

Certainly from all of the research, both allegorical and anecdotal, the agrifood sector is booming. There's no question it's one of the things that's driving the Saskatchewan economy, specifically in those areas.

What I've heard, certainly from the SME standpoint, is very interesting. When you talk about biotech, you talk about a minimum science degree, science engineering, mathematical, but what a lot of these people are specifically lacking are the soft skills. When I say “soft skills” I don't want to put that as a negative, but these are entrepreneurial jobs and as much as somebody might be able to look through a microscope, the anecdotal inference is that people need to be able to meet with investors and be able to sell, market, produce, manage labs, and all these other things that are going to be very important to these jobs.

Specifically in those two sectors I see great growth, and that is certainly what we are seeing from our sister organizations. Otherwise we have aquaculture, both of those organizations, had a huge resurgence in the last two or three years, or I should say huge growth since the last time we did our last labour market survey.

[Kellie Leitch, Conservative, Simcoe—Grey, ON]

Do you have any specific programs that target those areas?

[Robert Henderson]

No, not currently. Unfortunately, biotech has a very broad vertical. We have not stated specifically for verticals like medical devices or nanotechnology or aquaculture or anything like that. However, it would be wonderful to be able to see if we could align our programs with those burgeoning fields and academia as we go forward, but for right now, it has been very difficult because you feel a bit like one ounce of butter spread over about a mile of bread.

[The Chair, Conservative, Ed Komarnicki]

Thank you, Mr. Henderson, that is rather aptly put there.

Madam Perreault, you have a few questions. Go ahead.

[Manon Perreault, NDP, Montcalm, QC]

Good afternoon.Thank you for joining us today.

My question is for Mr. Henderson.

I am going from one thing to another, but I just want to understand the topic better. When we talk about biotechnology, we are also talking about agriculture, meaning agronomists, veterinarians, and so on.

I represent the constituency of Montcalm, in Quebec, where 85% of the territory is farmland. A farmer has recently told me that there was a shortage of veterinarians and agronomists. But given the few new young people going into farming, I was wondering whether the shortage might not become a surplus in a few years.

[Robert Henderson]

The answer to that is absolutely. I'm sure I had a few people wondering when I said the words bio-economy. The problem is that we have a vertical in biotechnology that touches on so many others all the way—pharmaceutical, health care, agriculture, as you say, veterinary medicine, etc. Some of them do find themselves identified within the bio-economy, and some of them do not.

With regard to the surpluses, if I understood your question correctly, as some of these students are coming out of agriculture and some of these other studies are pure agriculture or farming, etc., would there be potential talent pools for biotechnology? Was that the question you were asking?

[Manon Perreault, NDP, Montcalm, QC]

No. I said that there were very few new young people going into farming and I was wondering whether the current shortage of agronomists and veterinarians was going to become a surplus at some stage.

[Robert Henderson]

That's a good question. A surplus in talent for the biotech field, I suppose you're saying, is a possibility. I haven't seen any studies that indicate that right now in terms of a direct transfer. I believe those students may be taking a look at other fields, but I'm not sure that biotechnology right now has been indicated as one of them.

I think one thing the sector itself has to do is market itself a great deal better as a primary career path, not just as a secondary one, to post-secondary students.

I hope that answers your question.

[Manon Perreault, NDP, Montcalm, QC]

That sort of gives me an answer.

On another note, let’s talk about the horse racing industry. This industry was quite important at one point. Right now, there is almost nothing left. As a result, I assume that there is currently a surplus of workers and veterinarians. All those who worked in veterinary medicine at the racetracks had to be transferred. Were there any programs to help them diversify more?

[Robert Henderson]

No, although I think your point is quite laudable. As I mentioned about the transfer from manufacturing to biomanufacturing, let's say we were able to look across more verticals beyond just biotechnology. Some of the other sector councils could compare notes so that we could see some talent pools on one side where there's really no short-term solution.

For example, on the manufacturing downturn in southwestern Ontario, are there other industry verticals that could make a transfer from one to another, like we have done for biomanufacturing? Certainly that has to be done. Unfortunately, the resources available to us to be able to have those discussions and continue to pursue them are very limited.

[Manon Perreault, NDP, Montcalm, QC]

Okay.

I really want to understand. Right now, is there a shortage of professionals or lab technicians?

[Robert Henderson]

Currently, according to labour market information, in a lot of the lower-skilled work, specifically in biomanufacturing, that doesn't necessarily require a master's degree or a PhD in biotech or anything else, there is a direct indication that there are skills shortages. So with lower-skilled jobs, such as in manufacturing, that is a possibility. But that was just one sector under the labour market information where we were able to go.

A lot of these jobs are quite technical in biotech and require a great deal of technical know-how. So we were able to take one that was common from manufacturing to biomanufacturing. For the others, much more skills mapping in occupational standards, etc., will have to be done before we'll be able to pinpoint them.

[Manon Perreault, NDP, Montcalm, QC]

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Conservative, Ed Komarnicki]

Thank you very much.

This might be a good place to suspend.

I'd like to thank both of you for your presentations and for answering the questions. Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Conservative, Ed Komarnicki]

We'll recommence.

There are a couple of budget matters that I want to talk to the committee about, so we'll adjourn about 10 minutes before our scheduled time to cover that off. We'll try to govern our questions accordingly.

We have with us here today members from the Department of Industry. I understand they will make a presentation to us.

Go right ahead, and we'll have questions afterwards from each of the parties.

[Alain Beaudoin, Director General, Information and Communications Technologies Branch, Department of Industry]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

My name is Alain Beaudoin and I am Director General of the Information and Communications Technologies Branch. Joining me is Shane Williamson, Director General of the Program Coordination Branch of the Science and Innovation Sector.

My remarks today will consist of two parts. First, I will be providing a quick overview of the federal support provided through the granting councils. Second, I will speak to our recent efforts on the issue of talent for the information and communications technologies sector.

To support the supply of talent in all sectors of the economy, the federal government has a number of programs in place to promote the development of a highly knowledgeable workforce and support researchers, as well as graduate and postgraduate students, who are critical to success in a knowledge economy.

The three granting councils support a suite of post-secondary research talent programs. New programs have been created in recent years to support students or researchers who have demonstrated a high standard of scholarly achievement and excellence in research.

The Vanier Canada graduate scholarship helps Canada's universities attract sought-after doctoral students from across Canada and around the world. The Banting post-doctoral fellowships support top-tier post-doctoral talent from Canada and abroad. In the coming months the Minister of State for Science and Technology, the Honourable Gary Goodyear, will announce the 2012 Vanier scholars and Banting fellows.

Other significant investments have been made, including the establishment of the Canada excellence research chairs program targeted at attracting the very best internationally recognized researchers and their teams to conduct groundbreaking research at Canadian institutions. Established in 2008, this program now supports 18 chairholders at 13 universities, who are making positive contributions to Canada's global competitiveness and well-being.

Budget 2011 announced funding for a new CERC competition to award 10 new chairs to Canadian universities. The competition was launched in November 2011, with appointments expected in late 2013.

The CERC program builds on the success of the Canada Research Chairs (CRC) program, which allows Canadian institutions to strengthen their position as global leaders in research and development, bringing together greater economic and social benefits for Canadians.

In addition, the government supports programs that connect students and researchers with industry, such as the Industrial Research and Development Fellowships program, and the Industrial Research and Development Internship program. These provide students with valuable research experience in an industrial setting. Not only does this bridge academia and the private sector, it also helps to strengthen Canada's innovation performance.

As part of Canada's economic action plan, significant support was provided through the knowledge infrastructure program for the repair, maintenance, and construction of university and college facilities. A total of 520 projects were funded through this temporary $2 billion program, helping post-secondary institutions refurbish their existing infrastructure and build new facilities. By enhancing the research and training capacity of Canadian universities and colleges, this program will help provide a new generation with the advanced skills they need to thrive in the knowledge economy.

Now let me turn to the specific issue of talent for the ICT sector.

In 2010, the ICT sector accounted for approximately 5% of Canada's GDP, performed 33% of all private sector research and development, and employs approximately 563,000 Canadians, with salaries 52% higher than the national average. In order to compete and innovate, ICT companies must attract and retain the best possible talent.

During the 2010 Digital Economy Strategy consultations and the Minister of Industry's recent roundtables with the ICT sector, the industry emphasized the importance of talent for their sector. To help us shed light on supply and demand of Canadian ICT talent and support our work with provinces and territories, we hired the firm Nordicity. Between January and March of this year, Nordicity conducted interviews and an online survey of ICT firms and associations in key clusters.

While there are limits to the data collected in Nordicity's research, respondents identified current and future talent shortages, especially for media developers, programmers, and for software and computer engineers. Additionally, it found that there is a lack of executives with five years or more experience. Survey respondents also felt that college and university graduates need more “real world” skills, such as communications, project management, and overall business acumen.

Many company executives stress that talent is top of mind, and that speed in hiring is a requirement to keep pace with rapid technological changes and global competition. However, they indicated that the current immigration processes take too long to address their needs.

Earlier this month, Nordicity shared these results during an ICT round table organized by Industry Canada. It is important to note that the responsibility for ICT talent is shared and that while it resides primarily with academia and the private sector, governments also have a role to play. As such, the round table comprised industry, associations, and academia as well as federal and provincial government officials. The round table participants agreed with the broad findings of the report and on the importance of collaboration between all partners.

At the conclusion of the round table, participants identified five key priority areas that warranted action. The first priority was to increase ICT enrolment and graduation rates of ICT professionals. The second was to increase collaboration between industry and academia to ensure that curricula are more relevant and current to the needs of the industry. The third priority was to further private sector investments in upgrading employee skills and entrepreneurships, and to help develop executives who will help grow firms. The fourth was to reduce delays in the current immigration system to attract specialized and experienced workers.

Finally, participants agreed on the need for additional ICT labour information and data to better understand supply and demand dynamics.

Mr. Chair, we presented the results of the roundtable to FPT Economic Development ministers who met last week on the digital economy. Ministers acknowledged the critical need for digital skills and talent for the ICT sector. They also committed to working with the ICT sector to seek potential solutions to its skills challenges. As next steps, the FPT ICT Working Group will develop an action plan with various partners on the priorities identified during the roundtable and explore opportunities for collaboration.

My colleague and I would welcome the committee's questions.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Ed Komarnicki]

Thank you very much for that presentation.

We'll start with Ms. Hughes, in the first round.

[Carol Hughes, NDP, Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing, ON]

Thank you very much. We greatly appreciate the time you took to come here to explain this to us and make your presentation.

I want to follow up on your presentation. You said, “A total of 520 projects were funded through this temporary $2 billion program, helping post-secondary institutions refurbish their existing infrastructure and build new facilities.” Could you elaborate on the timelines of that temporary program?

[Shane Williamson, Director General, Program Coordination Branch, Science and Innovation Sector, Department of Industry]

Yes. That was part of Canada's economic action plan introduced in budget 2009. Originally, all projects were to be completed by the end of March 31, 2011, but as you may recall, the original project deadline was extended to October 31 for eligible projects. So that's the timeframe we're working on.

[Carol Hughes, NDP, Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing, ON]

On that note, have you done any follow-up to see what stage those projects are at, and could you tell me if there are any that look like they're not going to be able to meet that deadline?

[Shane Williamson]

The deadline has passed now. It was October 31—

[Carol Hughes, NDP, Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing, ON]

2011?

[Shane Williamson]

Yes. Did I say 2012? I'm sorry if I did.

That was the deadline.