I'd like to thank my honourable colleague for the question.
I'll start by talking about the chief science officer. You're correct that as part of my mandate letter I am to create this position. Over the last several months I have met with hundreds of stakeholders, and have been busy travelling the country. We also reached out to chief science advisers and chief science officers in other countries to get ideas of best practices—for example, in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the U.S., and Israel. Our officials spoke to officials in other countries, and I spoke minister to minister. We wanted to see what was being done overseas that we might be able to incorporate.
We also did a large consultation with stakeholders across the country, with all our major stakeholders. What should a chief science officer position look like? What tasks should they undertake? What tasks should be undertaken first, and how should they engage with the research community? As you pointed out, I also reached out to all parliamentarians. I've been here for seven years, and I've never seen that.
We really wanted to get a broad consultation, and I'm pleased to see that those consultations are now complete. We're at the analysis stage—a term I don't use lightly. We are, after all, a ministry of science, so we're doing a real analysis. I hope to be starting a search in the coming months.
You also asked about stem cells.
For the committee, stem cells were really Canada's science. The breakthrough discovery occurred here in Canada in the 1960s by Drs. Till and McCulloch. Canada has led in this area. In the seventies and eighties they trained people who became international leaders. In 2001 these researchers came together to create the stem cell network, with 225 researchers and $80 million. I'm pleased to say that in budget 2016, there's $12 million for the stem cell network.
I think my colleague Minister Bains would probably like to talk a bit about stem cells, but I briefly want to say that there's so much promise. The reason the stem cell network is so important is that they are now ready to go to clinical trials. I know that for some people, stem cells are concerning. But people need to understand that today a skin cell can become a stem cell and possibly treat 75 conditions—that's the promise—from cancer to heart disease to immune disorders.
We do share, you and I both, a strong interest to support that research and hopefully one day to deliver on the promise of stem cells.