At the University of Manitoba, I think it depends more on the faculty. For example, in engineering, patents would be considered and given weight in the tenure application, but in social sciences maybe not as much. So I would say the faculties are certainly aware of patents and the value they bring to the research enterprise. As Catherine mentioned, patents lead to publications and then to increased citations, so researchers see that value in connecting.
I don't think patents won't be used; it depends on the unit. Computer science programs will recognize that, health sciences will recognize that.