Mr. Speaker, while respectful of provincial powers to education under section 92 of the Constitution Act, the federal government recognizes its
leadership role in advanced education and research in leading edge science and technology.
This means providing essential infrastructure and financial support for the outstanding teachers, researchers and students who will achieve and maintain competitive world standards in these fields.
We lead North America in areas such as biomedicine, pharmacology, solid state and particle physics, with a demonstrated highly successful correlation and application of such endeavours in new industries, both domestic and export, and also in the many highly trained professional jobs that come with that.
Federal leadership in higher education and advanced research in science and technology is the key to an economically prosperous Canada as we enter the 21st century.