Industry Committee on May 5th, 2016

[Alex Nuttall, Conservative, Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte, ON]

Since you have received no directives or indications to this point and are doing business as usual, are you saying there will be a consistent level of funding for applied research?

[Maria Aubrey]

Yes, and similarly for basic research as well—depending on where the program is.

[Alex Nuttall, Conservative, Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte, ON]

I love the little disclaimer at the end.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, Oh!

[Alex Nuttall, Conservative, Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte, ON]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Dan Ruimy]

We're saving so much time here. Everybody wants to go home.

Mr. Masse, you have five minutes.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Your 2016-17 budget is $1.05 billion and $285 million for IRAP. What was the previous year's budget? Has anything changed from the last budgets to this budget?

[Maria Aubrey]

I'm sorry, can I ask for clarification; do you mean how it compares in respect to IRAP?

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Well, in your presentation, it says that $287 million is earmarked for 2016, and before that it was $1.05 billion. How does that compare with previous years?

[Maria Aubrey]

If it's okay, Mr. Chair, I can direct that question to Mr. Ciobanu to talk about how the IRAP portion has evolved.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

No, I'm talking about your general allocation and your IRAP. I'm going strictly from point 4 of your presentation, in terms of your 2016-17, so I'm looking towards 2015-16, or even prior to that.

[Maria Aubrey]

The numbers have increased over time. Basically, we've evolved, depending on specific programs and so on that have been given. I'm really sorry I don't have the numbers handy with me to be able to give them to you, but I'm happy to provide them as supplementary information.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

That's fine. What I'm looking for is how, from the year 2000, say for example, to now, those compare in terms of where we are today in comparison with what we started with in, say, the year 2000. It's just a quick matter of going through your annual general reports, I'm sure.

[Maria Aubrey]

We can provide those.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

That's great. Thank you.

I'm looking at some of the “examples of NRC in action”. You have the one with agriculture here, and I have seen some of the work done in the past with regard to science and technology. Do any of your studies or involvement in partnerships include any of the elements of algae blooms in the Great Lakes? That's agricultural run-off that's creating a significant problem for.... It doesn't just come out of Canada; obviously the major problem comes from the United States, but we're still part of it as well. I'm wondering whether you're involved in that capacity at all.

[Maria Aubrey]

Again, I will turn it over to...

[Roman Szumski, Vice-President, Life Sciences, National Research Council of Canada]

We don't have specific programming. It's not a primary mandate of the NRC to look at issues like that. However, we do have scientific expertise and we work with Environment Canada and other departments to provide the scientific expertise to support them in identifying the blue-green algae or algal blooms. In the past, as you may know in this committee, the NRC is known for a very important discovery of the domoic acid in red tides. That kind of expertise on toxins in these types of organisms is something that's tapped by other departments that have the primary responsibility for that kind of issue.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

I would just suggest that there's probably a lot of work that could be very valuable for the NRC to be involved with in partnerships with organizations dealing with microbeads, and microplastics, etc. I say this because much of it is industry-driven, in terms of the consequences. Research and development is a major component of this, to create alternatives and so forth, but it takes some innovation, and research partnerships with the universities as well.

[Roman Szumski]

I think the NRC has a lot to contribute to water.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Yes, and I guess what I'm getting at is that I'd like to see more of it in those areas, because I've seen the partnerships before, and you're a natural fit to be part of those working groups that are working on these matters.

I'm going to go to your point 14 concerning some of your bridging roles across university research activities and government departments and R and D needs. I don't know if this is the appropriate column for it, but what do you do to reach out to small business, for example, in terms of research and development partnerships? They often find it difficult to access government services. I know that the BDC talked to this committee about revamping a little bit to be more successful.

[The Chair, Liberal, Dan Ruimy]

You have about 30 seconds.

[Maria Aubrey]

We have a number of initiatives that we reach out to SMEs with, and with IRAP we have the concierge services that allow small companies to understand all the different capabilities of different initiatives and so on. We facilitate that. But as part of our client outreach program, we're also continually engaging with organizations to find out their needs and to bring them forward as applicable to our programs.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

I don't hear much—

I'll let it go, thanks, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Dan Ruimy]

Thank you very much.

Mr. Longfield, you have five minutes.

[Lloyd Longfield, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

I'll pick right up on what Mr. Masse said, because that's exactly where I was wanting to head to as well.

It's great to have you all here. I've been a big fan of the IRAP program and have worked with Tom Matulis, who is now a director, and Jennifer Mamby, who has helped with lots of small business in Guelph.

It's great to have the flexibility of your department embedding people into innovation centres. Our committee is going to be studying manufacturing strategies, and I'm wondering if Guelph is unique in putting IRAP people in the field working within innovation centres, or is that something you do in other parts of Canada?