Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to participate in this debate on Bill C-93, an act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on February 18, 1997.
I would like to focus on a new measure introduced in this budget and dealing with the establishment of the Canada Foundation for Innovation.
First of all, I would like to read-and this will come as a surprise to you-a number of rather eloquent statements, which I would go as far as to describe as most honourable, made by some of our colleagues opposite. The first one states, and I quote:
We are working to ensure that Canada and Canadians are winners in this new global economy, an economy which above all focuses on knowledge and our knowledge capacity. That means helping our universities modernize and enhance their science capacity. It means helping our teaching hospitals improve their research capacity. It means increasing our investments in new technologies, research and development.
This is what the Prime Minister said on February 13. Three days later, the Minister of Finance announced in his budget speech the establishment of the Canada Foundation for Innovation. This is the explanation he gave for it at the time, and I quote:
We must broaden our notion of infrastructure. We must take it beyond its traditional meaning to include the components of future economic success, post-secondary education, knowledge, innovation. These are the building blocks of the new wealth of nations. It is in this infrastructure as well that government must invest, for if we fail to do so we will fail the country of tomorrow. We will short change the next generation.
He went on to say:
Research facilities provide the tools needed to develop leading edge skills, skills that our students have to acquire if they want to succeed and we want to remain competitive in a world growing more competitive by the day.
He stated further: "The fact is that much of our current research infrastructure is literally unable to handle the kind of pressures required to keep Canada in the front ranks of the new economy. Innovation does not just happen. It requires investment".
And he concluded with these words: "The Canada Foundation for Innovation is about looking forward. It is about our children. It is about education. In short, it is about investing in the future growth of our economy, making a down payment today for a much greater reward tomorrow".
I was listening to all this and I was just stunned to see this new awareness, on the part of the Liberal government, of the importance of research and development. For close to a year, we had been condemning the cuts to the research program on nuclear fusion in Canada, which were to put an end to the tokamak project in Varennes. We condemned these cuts for a year, and now we are told that the future of Canada, the future of the Canadian economy, is based on research in the advanced technology sector.
However, to justify its decision to cut its modest contribution of $7.2 million to the tokamak project in Varennes, the government
was saying that it had set other priorities. Its top priority was the research, development, marketing and sale of CANDU reactors.
As you know, the traditional process of nuclear fission is a dangerous, highly polluting and ultimately obsolete technique, while nuclear fusion is a promising, clean and safe method of producing energy in high volumes. Of course, we are told that nuclear fusion will not yield results for another 20 to 50 years, at least. Granted, but if we give up now, we will never benefit from that technique, at least not in Canada.
The tokamak project in Varennes, in which the federal government invested a modest $7.2 million, is currently the most important research and development project on energy in Quebec. It is particularly insulting and unacceptable to see that the federal government wants to withdraw its annual $7.2 million subsidy, considering that Quebec receives barely 17 per cent of federal investment in research and development.
Regardless of the process, research on nuclear fusion allows us to develop new skills and technologies that will be of use in much more that just the nuclear fusion industry. Indeed, the research program on nuclear fusion generates economic spinoffs amounting to millions of dollars, mainly for the Montérégie.
This decision by the federal government is all the more astonishing given that the European Union is now investing US$550 million annually on nuclear fusion, and it plans on increasing its budgets by 10 to 25 per cent over the next five years; not a cut, but a 10 to 25 per cent increase on the base figure of US$550 million.
For its part, Japan is investing US$600 million annually in nuclear fusion research. The United States has levelled off its investment in nuclear fusion research at close to $225 million annually and, over the last five years, South Korea, the People's Republic of China and India have also become involved in nuclear fusion research.
Can it be that the federal government is completely cut off from the reality of today's technology? Is it completely unaware of what the future holds with respect to energy production? It seems so. The decision is all the more incomprehensible because the modest $7.2 million invested by the federal government in nuclear fusion research means that Canada is investing only 1 per cent of the amounts spent in this sector internationally.
But by investing a mere 1 per cent of the amounts spent internationally on nuclear fusion research, Canada receives all the technological spinoffs from this research. If we now decide to cut our nuclear fusion funding or research program, Canada will have missed the boat when this form of energy starts to be used. It is important that we continue our investments in nuclear fusion research.
It must also be understood that if the federal government withdraws its modest contribution of C$7.2 million, it will be the only G7 country no longer investing a cent in nuclear fusion research.
In closing, I would like to put this announcement of $800 million for a Canada Foundation for Innovation in perspective. First of all, it must be understood that the government is initially investing only $180 million. The $800 million is in the long term, and we shall see how much it actually invests in the end. But what has to be understood is that it is essentially making this investment with the money it cut in transfers to the provinces.
The 1996 budget forecast that provincial transfer payments would be $20.6 billion. In actual fact, when we look at this year's budget, we see that this amount has dropped to $19.8 billion, or $800 million less, exactly the amount announced for the Canada Foundation for Innovation.
Mr. Speaker, you are indicating that my time is up. I shall now conclude by saying that Quebecers will not be taken in by the tricks and duplicity of this government. We will find a way to make this clear in a few weeks.