Mr. Speaker, Canada's innovation gap was first mentioned in 1995 when the OECD stated that Canada had low levels of R and D expenditures and industrial innovation when compared to other developed countries. Since that report was released, this government has in fact taken bold initiatives to improve the situation.
We have created Technology Partnerships Canada, a $250 million a year investment with the private sector, to assist the development and commercialization of new technologies. As of April 1, 1998, TPC will have approved $521 million in R and D investments which will lever $2.2 billion in R and D and downstream investments by industry.
We established the Canada Foundation for Innovation, an $800 million partnership investment to renew research infrastructure across Canada. The CFI issued a request for proposals on December 9, 1997.
We also renewed our commitment to the networks of centres of excellence by making this program permanent at a level of $47 million annually. Over 400 firms and industry associations are network partners who have benefited from leading edge research.
We established a partnership between the Medical Research Council and the Canadian Medical Discoveries Fund to help bridge the innovation gap for life sciences research through investments which will commercially exploit research in universities and hospitals.
We have given the Business Development Bank of Canada a new mandate to support the growth of knowledge based, export oriented small businesses.
We are working with private and public sector partners to ensure that all of Canada's 16,500 schools and 3,400 libraries are connected to the Internet by 1998. We are also setting the conditions for Canada to become a laboratory for the creation of interactive, multimedia learning software and networks.
These actions demonstrate clearly that we are committed to making Canada an innovation based economy.