Science and Research Committee on Feb. 5th, 2026

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

I'm sorry for interrupting. The time is up.

[Tony Baldinelli, Conservative, Niagara Falls—Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON]

Will you drive a Chinese EV?

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

MP Baldinelli, your time is up.

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

l would like to finish my answer.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Give a quick, five-second answer.

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

The Conservatives need to be clear about making sure that they're denouncing the U.S. tariffs on auto workers, and they're not. Why is that?

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Thank you, Minister.

We will now proceed to MP Noormohamed for six minutes.

MP Noormohamed, please go ahead.

[Taleeb Noormohamed, Liberal, Vancouver Granville, BC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Minister, for joining us.

One of the issues that you touched on was the importance of ensuring that we can attract the right talent to build the economy of the future in this country. In my home province of British Columbia, what is happening in quantum and AI is hugely important. We also have a massive opportunity in British Columbia around health sciences and biotech.

I'm wondering how some of the measures you were proposing to put forward, not only for attracting talent but also for the investment of capital, are going to move those industries along in my home province, particularly in health sciences and biotech.

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

Thank you, dear Taleeb.

Obviously, we came up with an important talent strategy, as I mentioned in my speech, with $1.7 billion, so that's really good news.

At this point, universities are very supportive across the country, obviously including your fantastic province of B.C. I was just on the phone with the minister of economic development 30 minutes ago, Ravi Kahlon, who is very supportive as well.

We know that while certain countries don't believe in funding science or are attacking academic freedom, we can make sure we are in a brain gain mode and that we attract more talent, including in AI, as you were mentioning, and life sciences, which is so important to B.C., with some really important, key, sensitive technology development. That's what we're doing.

Universities are receiving a lot of demands at this point. I've been in contact with many presidents of universities and also with the U15, the organization in charge of the different universities. I really think that once we are able to announce the first round of recruits, Canadians will be happy, because this will have an impact across the country in every community where there's a college or university, which is great news.

[Taleeb Noormohamed, Liberal, Vancouver Granville, BC]

Can I just double-click on the point about life sciences?

Obviously, with some of the things that are happening south of the border, there are a lot of researchers...there's a lot of innovation that could be happening in Canada. How are we going to take advantage of that opportunity to welcome them?

It's not just those folks. Obviously, getting them here and making sure we're attracting the talent is one piece, but in terms of the funding environment and working with potential champions here in Canada, how do we ensure that Canadians are seeing what the outcomes are going to be? What are we doing to make sure that we are celebrating Canadian champions, who are quite often very modest in telling their own stories, and ensuring that they are becoming global leaders?

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

We're doing both, Taleeb. The idea is to make sure that we can indeed have great talent coming in, but of course, we're already supporting our scientists. We made sure that we invested even more in our local talent through budget 2024, which was the biggest investment in science in years. We are in a strong position now to attract more talent because we know that our own ecosystem of great researchers is well funded. I think this can be a really strong collaboration.

As you know, we've been making sure that we address some overcapacity issues within the public service, but our National Research Council is one of my priorities, and there's a very reasonable reduction in spending of 2%. I fought very hard to make sure that these granting councils would be well preserved, and that's the case.

[Taleeb Noormohamed, Liberal, Vancouver Granville, BC]

I don't know how much time I have left, Madam Chair, but—

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

You have one minute and a half.

[Taleeb Noormohamed, Liberal, Vancouver Granville, BC]

In the minute and a half that I have left, Minister, you might want to touch on this, if you could. When you look at the notion of the Minister of Industry, historically it has meant heavy industry and manufacturing, but as we enter this new world, it's those things plus a whole lot more.

What are some areas of opportunity that you see beyond the AI and digital that Minister Solomon spoke about? If you look forward for the next 15 to 20 years, where are the areas of economic opportunity for Canada, from an industry standpoint, that we could or should be leaning into? Where should Canadians be placing their bets in terms of how they see themselves moving forward?

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

I know you're passionate about AI and tech. At a time when our economy is threatened with tariffs by the American administration, my job is first and foremost not only to protect the workers in these sectors, particularly those affected by tariffs on steel, aluminum, auto and copper, but also to create jobs.

To your question, I really think we can create jobs through our new investments in defence. We will be coming up with a new defence industrial strategy very soon.

Everything in AI and tech will be linked to investments in defence, because a lot of it is dual-use. From the aerospace sector to advanced manufacturing, from people working at Seaspan in B.C. or Ontario Shipyards to people working at De Havilland in Calgary or Bombardier in Montreal, I think we can create many jobs.

We'll have more to say very soon, but certainly that's also a sector I want us to be able to grow.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Thanks a lot, Minister.

We will now proceed to MP Blanchette-Joncas for six minutes.

Please go ahead.

[Maxime Blanchette-Joncas, Bloc, Rimouski—La Matapédia, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I'd like to welcome the minister, who is joining us today.

Minister, I would first like to ask you a simple question. Is science a priority for your government?

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

Yes, of course.

Dear colleague, I'm sure you were sure I was going to say that.

[Maxime Blanchette-Joncas, Bloc, Rimouski—La Matapédia, QC]

If it's a priority, why is “science” no longer in your title?

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

It's because the seven priorities are very broad, actually. However, you can be sure that the government is demonstrating its priority with this historic investment of $1.7 billion. It's one of the largest budgets in the world for recruiting research and science talent.

[Maxime Blanchette-Joncas, Bloc, Rimouski—La Matapédia, QC]

Minister, earlier you mentioned Kirsty Duncan, whom I had the privilege of working with as well. This woman and former minister of science from 2015 to 2019 was responsible solely for science. Today, in the face of the biggest fight in modern Canadian history, you're involved in the tariff war, as you mentioned, but you're also involved in science, in addition to everything else.

Is it because you have superpowers or is it just because science isn't a priority for your government?

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

The work carried out by my team and me shouldn't be underestimated.

[Maxime Blanchette-Joncas, Bloc, Rimouski—La Matapédia, QC]

In that case, are you saying that it was because Ms. Duncan was unable to take on several tasks at the same time, or is it because you, once again, are putting science on the back burner?

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

I'd like to remind you that Ms. Duncan was also responsible for sports. She was able to do several things at the same time; she was a very competent woman.

[Maxime Blanchette-Joncas, Bloc, Rimouski—La Matapédia, QC]

On June 11, 2025, when you were at the Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal, you said this: “We're in a very geopolitically unstable time. We cannot afford to weaken our manufacturing sector”.

Yet your government is doing the opposite by slashing the college and community innovation program by 30%. It's the main federal tool for connecting applied research in CEGEPs with small and medium-sized manufacturing businesses.

How do you explain that you say one thing to the public, but the government does the opposite?