Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you to the members of this distinguished committee.
First I'd like to commend the committee for focusing on how best to support research and innovation in Canada and to attract and retain top talent. This is an issue we are charged with daily at the University Health Network.
My name is Kevin Smith. I have the privilege of serving as president and CEO of UHN, Canada's largest and most prolific research and training hospital. UHN has recently been recognized as one of the top five hospitals in the world by Newsweek. I should note, with some pride, that we're the only hospital among the top 10 hospitals identified by that organization with a universally funded system, whereby all have equal access to outstanding care, care that is informed by and improved through research.
As you know, one of the greatest challenges facing hospitals is a shortage of providers. University Health Network is also Canada's only hospital that has embedded within it a health professional training school, known as the Michener Institute of Education.
Research should include pedagogical or educational research, an incredibly important part of the future of Canada's training programs. Such a model, in our opinion, offers a national opportunity for the development of new professions, including extender professions that might help meet the needs and incredible demands placed upon clinicians for the rapid delivery of clinical care in order to catch up from COVID, coupled with a growing and aging population.
Fully 80% of Canada's health research is undertaken by research hospitals in Canada. That's 80%. This is often missed by many, and is a very important fact for the committee. Of course, our university partners are essential to research and scholarship, but it is the clinical environment research hospitals, and especially those with major research programs and ecosystems, that are very much the engine of this machine.
At UHN, we're very proud and fortunate to have completed almost $500 million of research in the last year. That is mostly money that was spent on salaries of research staff, technicians, technologists, support staff, and of course the scientists themselves. This investment creates thousands of high-quality jobs and a high quality of work life.
Each day we work at retaining and attracting the very finest minds to research in clinical care. Because we are a leading organization, each and every day we see attempts made by other world-leading organizations to recruit away our very brightest and best. Thanks to the Government of Canada, we've been able to stand our ground for some time. We've been able to keep those who are in the greatest demand in Canada. We've been able to attract stars and we've been able to see the world's leading organizations come to Canada, looking to attract those stars as well.
However, COVID and significant investments by other nations have changed everything. We are increasingly struggling to do so, especially at a time when investigators are thinking about quality of work life and access to needed resources.
Presently, Canada spends approximately 1.5% of its total health care budget on health research. This is a very small amount when compared to leading economies of the world. If we wish to maintain our standing in a vibrant research ecosystem, we must consider additional investment. Remember that the limited investment truly pays off. The research sector employs 482,000 Canadians and contributes over $7.8 billion to Canada's GDP.
The current research landscape, using the tri-councils and the CFI, has served Canada well for many years. That said, numerous reports and suggestions have been put forward about how we might better structure the system.
I won't spend my limited time today talking to you about structure, as I believe the structure alone will not significantly advance Canada's competitiveness. Investment is truly what's needed. This investment, whether in infrastructure—both physical or cyber—direct operating grants for researchers, or targeted initiatives, stimulates researchers to ask the most important questions. Researchers are struggling since inflationary pressures in laboratories are increasing at approximately 10% per year, while the CIHR budget for training and investigator-initiated awards has not increased at all.
Canada has been a player on the global stage and must remain strong. This means ballparking our estimates in research investments against other leading research jurisdictions. Unfortunately, Canada has fallen behind. The CIHR budget is approximately 45 times lower than that of the National Institutes of Health in the United States.
That's a fourfold to fivefold per capita difference in investment in health research. That means keeping top talent is more at risk than ever.
Canada's science is world class. It’s affordable. It’s competitive. It directly benefits the lives of Canadians. It attracts industrial investment and highly qualified jobs.
Investing in Canadian research talent—