Science and Research Committee on May 5th, 2022

[Paul Dufour]

Thank you for that question.

Can I take this for a few seconds, Sarah?

Thank you very much for that question. Of course it's an issue that underlies much of what our institute does. There are a number of programs out there. You mentioned Liber Ero. I'm familiar with that and with what we're trying to do with ISSP through our various workshops and events around this interface between the science side and policy.

I did mention in my remarks that Mitacs, Mr. Hepburn's organization, has a fantastic program that's funded through various federal departments and agencies in part to have senior top-level grad students join a department or an agency in the federal government, as well as in some provincial governments, as an experiment, to provide their skill sets to the public service in those various organizations. It goes both ways, by the way. They're learning, but the public service is also learning about how science and research are conducted.

[The Chair, Liberal, Kirsty Duncan]

Mr. Dufour, I'm sorry to do this. The worst part of this is interrupting people.

Mr. Cannings, thank you for the questions.

We will now go to the five-minute rounds.

We will begin with Mr. Tochor.

[Corey Tochor, Conservative, Saskatoon—University, SK]

Thank you kindly, Madam Chair.

My question is for John Hepburn from Mitacs.

We've all had a challenging two years with the pandemic. I can't imagine it was easy bringing in international students. How have you handled all the travel regulations and troubles brought by the last two or three years?

[Dr. John Hepburn]

What a troubling question.

In the first year of the pandemic, we had 800 students scheduled to arrive in Canada. We had to disappoint them all, because we had no way of bringing them in, obviously. In the second year of the pandemic, we had over a thousand students who we knew were likely unable to come to Canada. We arranged virtual internships for them, so they were still able to work with Canadian researchers, but they stayed in their home countries where they were safe. There was no travel.

This year, because of pent-up demand or whatever, we have 2,100 students arriving in the country as I speak. We have 74 Ukrainian students trying to get to Canada—fingers crossed—and we are doing our best to make sure they can come here. We have students coming from around the world. Most of them will arrive.

The past two years were not much fun.

[Corey Tochor, Conservative, Saskatoon—University, SK]

I appreciate that, and I appreciate learning a bit more about your organization, because I think the marrying of entrepreneurship, academia and research is important and should continue.

You talked about partnering with different companies. What are the three largest companies you're partnering with for these placements?

[Dr. John Hepburn]

We partner with very large companies. We partner with large oil companies, and with Telus, Bell and IBM—the big companies. Most of the companies we partner with, some 80%, are actually small and medium-sized enterprises with fewer than 500 employees. That's where the growth is in the economy. That's where a lot of the innovation is. We'll partner with anybody. We'll partner with start-up companies.

So, yes, we partner with the major companies, but, as I said, more than 80% of the companies we partner with are small and medium-sized enterprises.

[Corey Tochor, Conservative, Saskatoon—University, SK]

You talked a little about funding. I believe you were saying that it was a billion-dollar funding. How many years was that over?

[Dr. John Hepburn]

It was over five years.

[Corey Tochor, Conservative, Saskatoon—University, SK]

When did that start?

[Dr. John Hepburn]

We've been funded by the federal government since—I'm going to get this wrong and get corrected by the chair—2012. We had short-term funding agreements with ISED. We've been growing like mad. We double in size every three years.

The most recent funding agreement started with the 2021 budget. It's a five-year funding agreement, plus a second funding agreement that starts this year for the national quantum effort. As I said, we also get support from all 10 provinces and Yukon territory. Forty per cent of our money comes from industry.

[Corey Tochor, Conservative, Saskatoon—University, SK]

May I ask how you got funding in 2021 if, as you said, you couldn't bring anyone in? You received double the funding, if I heard you right.

[Dr. John Hepburn]

Yes, 80% of our programs are for students who are already in Canada.

[Corey Tochor, Conservative, Saskatoon—University, SK]

They are already in Canada.

[Dr. John Hepburn]

Yes. Many arrived in Canada as international students, but 80%.... In our current funding agreement, 70% of our internships have to be partnerships between Canadian universities and Canadian industry.

[Corey Tochor, Conservative, Saskatoon—University, SK]

Across Canada, we heard about Nova Scotia, but how has your experience been in Quebec? How has your experience been dealing with the Quebec government on this?

[Dr. John Hepburn]

It's been excellent.

About 90 of our 400 employees are in Quebec, where we have a large business development team. As I said, we have business development officers in Montreal, mostly, but they're also in eastern Quebec and Chicoutimi. We're spread all over the country. The Quebec government has been very generous with us. We're quite happy with our relationship with the Quebec government.

[Corey Tochor, Conservative, Saskatoon—University, SK]

That's fabulous.

Speaking in general terms, are there underserved regions that you are targeting in order to increase your presence there? Are there regions in Canada where it's difficult to find either funding partners or students willing to attend those universities?

[Dr. John Hepburn]

Getting back to the previous question about working outside the major urban areas, we put a lot of effort into working with colleges, which is a new area for us, as well as northern and rural communities.

Yes, it's a challenge to find students and match them, but we've been working hard on that. We have several indigenous business development people. It's not as productive for our business as working in Montreal, but it's an important effort for us, which is why we now have a business development person in Whitehorse working on that. We've been talking with Denendeh Development Corporation.

[The Chair, Liberal, Kirsty Duncan]

Thank you.

[Corey Tochor, Conservative, Saskatoon—University, SK]

Great.

With the last question, could we get it in writing?

[The Chair, Liberal, Kirsty Duncan]

I'm sorry.

Mr. Tochor, you are always a gentleman. Would you like to ask him to submit it in writing?

[Corey Tochor, Conservative, Saskatoon—University, SK]

Is there one region of the globe that most of your students come from, or what are the largest two areas of the world that we receive students from?

[The Chair, Liberal, Kirsty Duncan]

In writing.

[Corey Tochor, Conservative, Saskatoon—University, SK]

In writing.

Thank you again for your presentation tonight, and your award, which sounds amazing.

[The Chair, Liberal, Kirsty Duncan]

Thank you, Mr. Tochor.

Now we will go to Ms. Bradford for five minutes, please.