Mr. Chair, the parliamentary secretary talked about research and the investment that the Government of Canada has made juxtaposition with the private sector research that has been in place in Canada. When my colleague was the regional minister in the province of Nova Scotia, he was very involved in a large number of those research grants and investments in post-secondary education in Nova Scotia and Canada in general.
As most members in the House probably know, Canada has been hugely successful since 1998, investing in the range of $13 billion in publicly funded research through initiatives like CIHR and supporting granting councils like NSERC, SSHRC, and CFI.
Canada has become a leader, reversing the brain drain, bringing researchers back into Canada, not only repatriating researchers but keeping them here and bringing new ones here. When we look around the world, we see China and India, with populations over one billion people, investing heavily in research, innovation, technology and commercialization, it reinforces the wisdom of Canada's decision over the past five years. It also shows us the importance of keeping that up.
We have not had the level of private sector research that some other countries have had. We have been able to partner in a lot of cases. CIHR partners and leverages a lot of research money. Drug companies and others, some of whom are really responding to the challenge, would do well to keep Canada in mind, when they build their research plants, and continue to invest in Canada where a lot of their consumers are.