Mr. Speaker, the federal government has increased its spending on R and D in recent years to the CFI, the research chairs program and with increases in the research granting councils. However, these increases have forced Canadian universities to bear the indirect costs associated with that research, resulting in the $200 million indirect funds program announced last fall.
Could the Secretary of State for Science, Research and Development provide the rationale for the use of a sliding scale in the allocation of these funds?