Evidence of meeting #23 for Science and Research in the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was question.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Bloc
Maxime Blanchette-Joncas Bloc Rimouski—La Matapédia, QC
Minister, since 2012, Quebec's technology access centres have been receiving three times less funding than their counterparts in the rest of Canada. Why do you allow that to happen? When are you going to do something about it?
Liberal
Mélanie Joly Liberal Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC
Mr. Blanchette‑Joncas, I look forward to working with you. If you feel there's a problem, we will address it.
Bloc
Maxime Blanchette-Joncas Bloc Rimouski—La Matapédia, QC
You'll have to speak to the people at the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, NSERC. They all know about the situation. The Liberals have been in government for a decade. If you don't know about the issue, I am telling you now.
Why is Ottawa not investing a cent in Axelys, when the commercialization of research is supposedly one of your government's priorities?
Liberal
Mélanie Joly Liberal Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC
The reason is that the Government of Quebec is also doing its job. As a member of the Bloc Québécois, you generally take the view that the federal government shouldn't necessarily be involved in Quebec's affairs, which I disagree with, of course. I think that we play our role and that the Government of Quebec plays its role. That's what researchers want. That is why our programs and our research councils support them.
Bloc
Maxime Blanchette-Joncas Bloc Rimouski—La Matapédia, QC
Quebeckers give 50% of their income to Ottawa in the form of taxes, and today you're telling us that it's no big deal, that we don't need to give those people funding, because Quebec already funds their commercialization organizations. Is that what you're saying?
Liberal
Mélanie Joly Liberal Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC
No, that's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is that Quebeckers are getting value for money. They are getting value for money not only because they are part of a larger whole that provides them with the necessary defence in today's chaos-filled geopolitical landscape, especially at a time when we are stepping up our defence spending, but also because they know that Canada's economic strength can and must protect us against the economic threats from the U.S.
Bloc
Liberal
Mélanie Joly Liberal Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC
It's not rhetoric, it's reality. In those circumstances, then—
Bloc
Maxime Blanchette-Joncas Bloc Rimouski—La Matapédia, QC
We know the song and dance well. Allow me to continue.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Salma Zahid
It's one person at a time.
Please allow the witness to answer the question.
Maxime Blanchette-Joncas Bloc Rimouski—La Matapédia, QC
Speaking of value for money, I want to draw your attention to the fact that, in 20 years, the share of federal research funding for French-language institutions has dropped from 22% to 16%. Do you acknowledge that a structural bias is built into the federal funding mechanism?
Liberal
Mélanie Joly Liberal Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC
Listen, I hear what you're saying. I felt it was important that we take a closer look at the success rates associated with French-language research grants, so I collected some data.
Bloc
Maxime Blanchette-Joncas Bloc Rimouski—La Matapédia, QC
I'm asking you about the share of federal funding that goes to French-language universities in Quebec. I'm not talking about success rates.
Liberal
Mélanie Joly Liberal Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC
Sorry, but what I'm trying to do right now is talk to you about science and research.
Bloc
Maxime Blanchette-Joncas Bloc Rimouski—La Matapédia, QC
Are Quebeckers getting value for money under your government's policies? That is the question.
Liberal
Bloc
Liberal
Mélanie Joly Liberal Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC
When it comes to research, our goal is to be there for Quebec and francophones. In fact, I believe the share of funding for French is greater than the share Quebec and francophones represent. As French speakers and Quebeckers, I think we can be proud, because we are able—
Bloc
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Salma Zahid
I'm sorry for interrupting, but time is up for MP Blanchette-Joncas. Thank you.
I'll just request, members, that when you ask a question, you please allow the witness to answer the question.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Salma Zahid
Thank you.
We will now proceed to MP DeRidder for five minutes.
MP DeRidder, please go ahead.
Conservative
Kelly DeRidder Conservative Kitchener Centre, ON
Thank you, Madam Chair.
In your opening statement, you talked about three pillars: protect, create and attract. I'm going to start with “protect”.
Today, the government introduced an “auto strategy that rewards the production of made-in-Canada vehicles and harnesses our world-class capabilities in artificial intelligence and technology expertise to build the cars of the future. This is a strategy that positions Canada to become a global leader in...(EV) production.” How can you honestly state this to Canadians when we were the leader in EV technology but didn't protect our intellectual property? We're now buying it back at retail.
China, in one year, had 355,000 AI and tech patents filed compared to Canada's dismal 2,500. Also, China invested $80 billion in EV technology, and it's the world leader today. How are we going to compete with that? How is Canada going to compete with the competitor it helped to create? What is your strategy for us as a country to become the global leader in EV technology and manufacturing over China, considering that in the past 10 years, we have gone from first to last?