Thank you, Minister, for coming here this afternoon.
My questions are going to centre on science and technology. You said that you felt it was crucial for the development of our country, that you thought it was an integral part of our long-term strategy, and that it was essential to Canada's long-term competitiveness.
Your government and previous Liberal governments have always supported innovation. In these particular estimates, in this particular budget, you've put a tremendous amount of money towards infrastructure. There is the knowledge infrastructure program. You've put money towards equipment and investment on deferred maintenance. All this has to be matched money. I support putting money towards infrastructure. I think it's very important that we have the best labs. I had a genomics laboratory in my previous life, and I know how expensive they can be. However, you've also cut basic funding for research—$148 million to the granting councils. There is no new money for Genome Canada. There is no new money that will be invested in future genomics projects, and that's of great concern. All this is having a tremendous impact.
You've seen the letter written on behalf of 2,000 scientists that was sent to the Prime Minister of this country, asking to restore this critical funding. It's great to have nice laboratories, but if we have nobody in the laboratory working, and we don't have the world-class scientists, then how are we going to maintain our ranking? You will have seen in yesterday's Globe and Mail Anne McIlroy's article talking about Dr. Sekaly, who's heading to Florida. This is probably just the start of world-class scientists leaving our country.
It's of great concern. How does your government hope to maintain Canada's global status in research and development, competitiveness, and innovation when you have 2,000 scientists calling for additional money? How do you see us being ranked well in the world, when you're not putting money towards the very things that we need most?