Evidence of meeting #87 for Industry, Science and Technology in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was communities.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Dan Ruimy
Thank you very much.
Finally, for the last two minutes, we have Mr. Stewart.
Kennedy Stewart NDP Burnaby South, BC
Thank you very much.
According to CANSIM table 358-0146, in the darkest days of the Harper administration—that was in 2012, and you remember the marches on Parliament Hill—36,822 federal personnel were engaged in science and tech activities for the government. There were 35,496 researchers on the federal payroll when you formed government. Now there are 34,594 researchers that are employed by the federal government. That's 2,000 fewer than Harper employed in 2012 and 1,000 fewer than when you formed government in 2015.
How do you account for this decline?
Liberal
Kirsty Duncan Liberal Etobicoke North, ON
Thank you for the question. I will speak specifically and then go out from there.
I was a part of hiring. I worked with my colleague, the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans, and the Canadian Coast Guard, and hired 135 scientists, the largest number of scientists ever hired at one time. I have brought together the deputy ministers of science-based departments, but for the first time we're meeting for eight-hour meetings. We did that for the first time in June 2016 and we did it this year in June. It focuses on HR and how to build the talent pipeline. The average age of a civil servant is 37, and it's higher for scientists, so how do we build that pipeline?
Another area—
NDP
Kennedy Stewart NDP Burnaby South, BC
Why are we still losing scientists? We've lost 1,000 researchers since you came to office. We've had all the platitudes about science and I really like your work and I respect you as a person, but these are the hard numbers provided by StatsCan. I say that it's tied to funding. If you're not funding your research institutes, you're not going to be able to hire people.
Liberal
Kirsty Duncan Liberal Etobicoke North, ON
Part of it is retirements, but I just want to finish what I was saying.
We are doing this differently, bringing together the deputy ministers of the science-based departments to look at HR, the talent pipeline, science infrastructure, and IT management systems. That is some of the work we're doing. That's why in budget 2017 you saw that I'm to come forward with a science infrastructure strategy. It takes time, but we are working very hard to dig out of this hole.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Dan Ruimy
Thank you very much. Unfortunately, we are out of time.
Thank you very much, Minister.
Nobody leave yet—
Liberal
Liberal
Kirsty Duncan Liberal Etobicoke North, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to the committee for allowing me to come this morning. Thank you for your questions, and most importantly, thank you for the work you've been doing on that intellectual property study. Thank you, everyone, for your tremendous work.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Dan Ruimy
Thank you very much, Minister.
Pursuant to Standing Order 81(5), the committee will now dispose of the supplementary estimates (B) for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2018.
Do I have unanimous consent to deal with all votes in one motion?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Dan Ruimy
Okay.
ATLANTIC CANADA OPPORTUNITIES AGENCY Vote 5b—Grants and contributions..........$40,584,308
(Vote 5b agreed to on division)
CANADIAN NORTHERN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AGENCY Vote 1b—Operating expenditures..........$313,028 Vote 5b—Contributions..........$4,537,297
(Votes 1b and 5b agreed to on division)
CANADIAN SPACE AGENCY Vote 1b—Operating expenditures..........$8,612,533 Vote 5b—Capital expenditures..........$4,200,532
(Votes 1b and 5b agreed to on division)
DEPARTMENT OF INDUSTRY Vote 1b—Operating expenditures..........$23,903,710 Vote 10b—Grants and contributions..........$163,305,969
(Votes 1b and 10b agreed to on division)
DEPARTMENT OF WESTERN ECONOMIC DIVERSIFICATION Vote 5b—Grants and contributions..........$11,531,673
(Vote 5b agreed to on division)
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AGENCY OF CANADA FOR THE REGIONS OF QUEBEC Vote 5b—Grants and contributions..........$5,000,000
(Vote 5b agreed to on division)
NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL OF CANADA Vote 10b—Grants and contributions..........$1
(Vote 10b agreed to on division)
NATURAL SCIENCES AND ENGINEERING RESEARCH COUNCIL Vote 1b—Operating expenditures..........$141,000 Vote 5b—Grants..........$3,332,270
(Votes 1b and 5b agreed to on division)
SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES RESEARCH COUNCIL Vote 1b—Operating expenditures..........$1,099,655
(Vote 1b agreed to on division)
STANDARDS COUNCIL OF CANADA Vote 1b—Payments to the Council..........$1
(Vote 1b agreed to on division)
STATISTICS CANADA Vote 1b—Program expenditures..........$14,348,243
(Vote 1b agreed to on division)
Shall I report the votes to the House?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Dan Ruimy
Excellent. Thank you all very much for collaborating and co-operating to make sure that we got out of here on time.
The meeting is adjourned.