Evidence of meeting #28 for Industry, Science and Technology in the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was manufacturing.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Independent
Vice-President, External Relations, Precarn Incorporated
Yes. I might add also that we have a number of collaborations for projects across the country in which provincial money is involved as well.
Independent
André Arthur Independent Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC
Mr. Phillipson, you don't decide what research will be done. You don't even directly finance the research; you finance the equipment and the tools, and the play things that those people need to be efficient. Am I right?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canada Foundation for Innovation
I wouldn't agree with your characterization, but yes. As play things, they are the tools that are required to do the research.
Independent
André Arthur Independent Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC
You talked about $3 billion. Is that the endowment you received or is it the money you got and you spent? Could you qualify this amount for me?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canada Foundation for Innovation
Thank you, yes. I'm happy to.
Initially when CFI was created, $800 million was to be transferred for five years, and subsequently the mandate has been extended, and further blocks of funds have been allocated. It's not an endowment in the true sense. It's to be spent down. That's why I said that with the current competition, when we award those funds, the money will largely have been committed. It won't all have been dispersed yet--we manage the funds--but it will all have been committed. The total--it's not per year--allocation from government has been $3.65 billion since 1997.
Independent
André Arthur Independent Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC
Out of that you've been able to commit how much money with the revenues you might have from the money that was not yet spent on everything?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canada Foundation for Innovation
Projected to 2010, the year to which our mandate currently goes, we estimate that we will have generated about another billion dollars in interest over the years, which is also used for our mandate. It will be close to a total of $4.5 billion. After the current competitions, what we will have left to be committed is about $500 million for one specific fund called the research hospital fund. That's a very specific allocation. That was the last allocation we received from the government, and it was designated specifically just for a research hospital. It will not include universities, colleges, or other research institutions.
Independent
André Arthur Independent Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC
Thank you.
Mr. Stewart, you told us that we're not producing enough research degrees. Did you say that?
Director General, Policy Branch, Science and Innovation Sector, Department of Industry
No, but I could understand why it would sound that way. What I said was we produce fewer compared to other countries in the OECD. So in the case of PhDs we rank eighteenth for their production as a proportion of that age group in society. The statistic is a bit complicated. But to say we're not producing enough would imply that there's demand for them. That's why I talked earlier about how the labour market is soft if you look at Canada versus the U.S. So you have to be careful.
Independent
André Arthur Independent Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC
So if we were producing more degrees, the people getting them would be unemployed?
Director General, Policy Branch, Science and Innovation Sector, Department of Industry
What we would like to do is have them be valued as inputs to a more competitive private sector. We would like to see the demand for those PhDs go up, and then universities would have to step up and provide more.
Independent
André Arthur Independent Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC
Is there a link between this virtual shortage and the fact that in Quebec and many provinces tuition fees have been frozen for many years? Many universities, such as Laval University in Quebec City, concentrate on undergraduate students. They don't give a hoot about graduate research because it's too expensive. Their funding has been cut, their tuition fees have been frozen, and they have no real motivation to spend all the money that they still didn't get from Mr. Phillipson on things that would be very costly. Is there a link there?
Director General, Policy Branch, Science and Innovation Sector, Department of Industry
I don't think I can explain the particular educational focus of specific universities.
Independent
November 9th, 2006 / 5:35 p.m.
Director General, Policy Branch, Science and Innovation Sector, Department of Industry
Universities differentiate themselves. Some universities focus on being an excellent undergraduate educator. The University of Toronto and the University of Montreal focus on being research-intensive. I'm not quite sure what the explanation for that would be.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative James Rajotte
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Arthur.
Thank you very much for coming in, ladies and gentlemen. We appreciate the session. We want to thank you all. Again, if you have any further recommendations you want to make to the committee, please forward them to me or the clerk. We have some small items to discuss here. We would like to thank you, and you can certainly move on. We look forward to seeing you here again.
Monsieur Crête.
Bloc
Paul Crête Bloc Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC
Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask for unanimous consent to adopt the following motion to simplify the committee's work. I move that during the committee's trip the week of November 20, 2006, the meetings be for the sole purpose of hearing witnesses.
This would mean that, during our trip, nobody would be able to table a motion, dilatory or otherwise. It would give us a certain peace of mind during our trip. It would mean that when we visit plants or meet with witnesses, we would not constantly have to be checking that everybody was present. I would like to have the consent of the committee to adopt this motion.
Would you like me to read it again?
I move that during the committee's trip the week of November 20, 2006, the meetings be for the sole purpose of hearing witnesses.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative James Rajotte
First of all, I think the clerk advises me we need unanimous consent to let Monsieur Crête move the motion, so I'm asking for unanimous consent to move the motion, right?
Liberal
Massimo Pacetti Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC
It's just a formality. We do it before we travel all the time. When a committee travels, you don't want political interference.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative James Rajotte
Okay, then let's go to Mr. Carrie, because Mr. Carrie had his hand up, and then Mr. Pacetti.
Conservative
Colin Carrie Conservative Oshawa, ON
I don't know why we don't just go through the regular process. Having this come up at the last minute...it's something I've not seen before.
Do you intend not to travel for the whole length of time of the committee, or is it...?
Bloc
Paul Crête Bloc Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC
No, it is simply because the clerk told us that we will know today if we were authorized to travel, and our budget was approved today. I believe the House authorized the trip this afternoon, but if not, it will be done tomorrow morning.
As Mr. Pacetti said, most committees adopt such a motion when traveling to ensure that people do not get caught out by a motion at 4:15 p.m. or 4:45 p.m. It is basically a motion that protects the government.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative James Rajotte
I had Mr. Pacetti on the speakers list. Do you want to speak, Mr. Pacetti?