Mr. Speaker, with regard to (a), the Department of Industry is taking steps to ensure the National Research Council, the NRC, remains a world-class organization that supports business-led initiatives.
With regard to (b), in order to stay within the defined budget envelope while ensuring a continued focus on priorities, an in-depth review of NRC Herzberg operations and programs was undertaken by NRC Herzberg senior program managers.
With regard to (c), the Long Range Plan for Astronomy and Astrophysics, LRP2010, is a document that balances both regional and disciplinary priorities in the Canadian astronomical community, and is the result of over a year’s worth of consultations between the NRC and relevant parties.
NRC meets on a regular basis with the Association of Canadian Universities for Research in Astronomy, ACURA, to ensure its activities are aligned with the astronomy community priorities.
With regard to (d), specific reductions were made to two completed projects.
In the first project, the Atacama large millimeter array, ALMA, telescope became operational in 2013. This 10-year project, led by NRC, was successfully completed in 2012. The positions related to the production, delivery, and integration of the relatively large number of deliverable units for this specific project were no longer required for ongoing astronomy technology development activities. The activities of the ALMA telescope will not be affected by this decision.
In the second project, the development work in support of the James Clerk Maxwell telescope, the JCMT, archive was completed in 2012, and the domain expertise of the incumbent position in this area was no longer required. The activities of JCMT will not be affected by this decision.
The visitors facility at NRC Herzberg in Victoria, known as the Center of the Universe, suspended its outreach activities at the end of August 2013. The National Research Council, NRC, has been meeting with the community and exploring options for the future management of the centre. The NRC is working with local stakeholders to find ways to resume some of the activities at the centre in the short term and is continuing to investigate options that would safeguard the long-term sustainability of the Centre of the Universe.