Mr. Speaker, we have heard a lot recently from some of the granting councils and their users about the crisis of funds.
I am pleased to point out that in last year's budget we introduced the Canada Foundation for Innovation, an $800 million fund to support research and development in Canada's universities and teaching hospitals. We added $47 million per year to the networks of centres of excellence, made it a permanent program. We added money to IRAP, as we promised again in the red book.
There is no doubt of the important and essential role that Canada's research granting councils are playing.
I am confident that the Minister of Finance will find a way to relieve some of their pressure in due course.