Mr. Speaker, all across Canada there are colleges and universities, government and non-government research centres and individuals with great expertise in northern and polar studies. There are organizations like ACUNS and the Canadian Polar Commission that help co-ordinate northern studies and research, but we lack a major centre of excellence.
The time has come to put in place a single major centre as a clearing house for such work, a centre which will co-ordinate and focus the extraordinary knowledge and experience which Canadians have of the north.
I urge federal departments that have special strengths in these matters, such as Indian and northern affairs, natural resources, industry, health, and foreign affairs to take a lead in this, beginning by better co-ordinating federal activities in northern research.