House of Commons Hansard #225 of the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was scientists.

Topics

Questions Passed as Orders for ReturnsRoutine Proceedings

3:20 p.m.

Conservative

The Speaker Conservative Andrew Scheer

Is that agreed?

Questions Passed as Orders for ReturnsRoutine Proceedings

3:20 p.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed.

Motions for PapersRoutine Proceedings

3:20 p.m.

Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre Saskatchewan

Conservative

Tom Lukiwski ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons

Mr. Speaker, I ask that all notices of motions for the production of papers be allowed to stand.

Motions for PapersRoutine Proceedings

3:20 p.m.

Conservative

The Speaker Conservative Andrew Scheer

Is that agreed?

Motions for PapersRoutine Proceedings

3:20 p.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed.

Opposition Motion--ScienceBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

3:25 p.m.

NDP

Kennedy Stewart NDP Burnaby—Douglas, BC

moved:

That, in the opinion of the House: (a) public science, basic research and the free and open exchange of scientific information are essential to evidence-based policy-making; (b) federal government scientists must be enabled to discuss openly their findings with their colleagues and the public; and (c) the federal government should maintain support for its basic scientific capacity across Canada, including immediately extending funding, until a new operator is found, to the world-renowned Experimental Lakes Area Research Facility to pursue its unique research program.

Opposition Motion--ScienceBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

3:25 p.m.

Conservative

The Speaker Conservative Andrew Scheer

Since today is the final allotted day for the supply period ending March 26, 2013, the House will go through the usual procedures to consider and dispose of the supply bills.

In view of recent practices, do hon. members agree that the bills be distributed now?

Opposition Motion--ScienceBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

3:25 p.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed.

Opposition Motion--ScienceBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

3:25 p.m.

NDP

Kennedy Stewart NDP Burnaby—Douglas, BC

Mr. Speaker, although it is always a privilege to speak in the House, today it is with a heavy heart that I rise to debate our NDP opposition day motion on science and scientific freedom.

Before moving to the motion, I would like to clarify that we use the term “science” in the broadest possible sense, encompassing the natural sciences, technology, engineering and math, the so-called STEM disciplines, as well as the social sciences and humanities. By science, we mean all forms of intellectual endeavour whereby truth is sought.

Our motion has three main points. The first is for all MPs to support the basic principle that federal scientists must be enabled to openly discuss their findings with the public. Second is also a fundamental principle that public science, basic research and the free and open exchange of scientific information are essential to evidence-based policy-making. The third point is a specific request that the federal government maintain support for basic scientific capacity across Canada, including immediately extending funding to the world-renowned Experimental Lakes Area research facility.

To begin I will talk about our first principle, which we are asking the House to vote in support of tonight. This concerns allowing scientists to discuss their findings, a practice that sits at the very heart of what for centuries has been called the scientific method.

Science is not test tubes or data sets or microscopes or space stations, but a method by which we explore and attempt to explain our world. Central to the scientific method is the public disclosure of data and test results. This is crucial as it allows others to replicate research and retest and re-examine how and why scientists reached their conclusions. Without a strict adherence to the scientific method, we do not generate science but mere propaganda.

Our motion asks that the House recognize that we in this place support a critical component of the scientific method, namely that researchers employed by the Canadian government not be restricted in their ability to share their work.

I was shocked to recently discover that during an interview on #FAQMP, the Minister of State (Science and Technology) actually bragged about getting daily briefings to ascertain whether “some scientist leaked information to another country”. Is this what we have come to? Does the government live in such fear of our top researchers that it requires daily briefings as to whether our scientists are traitors? We ask government members to vote “yes” to our motion to prove otherwise.

The second point concerns public science for Canadians. Our second principle concerns ensuring government policy is based on the best available research, and that this research is made available to the public.

Canadians support science through their tax dollars. However, by suppressing the results of public research, Conservatives either seem to think that Canadian taxpayers are incapable of understanding the science being done on their behalf or think it is too dangerous to allow them to be informed and make decisions for themselves.

I would also like to mention at this point that I will be splitting my time.

Despite their disdain for science, hopefully the members on the government side of the House can see how important it is that our policies, including those connected to the economy and the environment, be based on solid evidence and not ideology. It is hard for scientists to take comfort in platitudes from members opposite. They hear the same talking points about how the Conservative government values scientific research.

Canadian scientists know full well that the voices of their colleagues are being silenced. Canadian scientists know that our international partners are now choosing not to collaborate with us because they question the integrity of Canadian science and fear government interference with their work. Canadian scientists also know that promising young students are being turned away because funding for scholarships and research labs is being drastically cut. Canadian scientists know that labs across Canada must now scramble to secure emergency funding and finding none, wait for an eleventh hour pardon for the crime of believing that furthering knowledge is worthy of their life's effort.

Finally, our NDP opposition day motion calls on the Conservatives to concretely demonstrate their commitment to discovery by ensuring long-term stable funding for basic research, starting with the extension of funds to the Experimental Lakes Area. In the grand scheme of things, the few hundred thousand dollars it takes to keep the ELA open is a pittance, both in real numbers, when compared to many other government schemes and policies, and in relative terms, recognizing how much Canadians and indeed the whole world has benefited from the work being done there.

To quote our outgoing environment commissioner, Scott Vaughan:

—this is something that doesn't exist elsewhere and also it's been under way now for a couple of decades. When you turn that switch off...it is incredibly difficult to turn the switch back on.... When these scientists are gone, to try to then rebuild those programs is really difficult.

I have spoken with the very people who laid the groundwork for Canada's greatest living laboratory and it deeply saddens me when I think of how this government has squandered our advantages and has surrendered this critical international research facility to loggers' chainsaws. That is right. Instead of being used to solve questions such as the effect of silver nanoparticles on the environment, the forests around the lakes are likely to be logged bare.

Let us not forget that what is happening to the ELA is happening in research facilities right across Canada. The ELA is just one cruel symbol among many of the Conservative science policy.

While I am sure the Minister of State (Science and Technology) will stand and say that his government has invested more than any other, in fact, that is not true. The most recent Statistics Canada report shows that last year the Conservatives cut 6% from science and technology funding and laid off 1,500 personnel engaged in science and technology activities. Canada committed 1.8% of our gross domestic product to research and development in 2010, down from our 2.1% commitment in 2001. Our southern neighbours under President Obama now spend 3% of GDP on research and development, and other developed countries spend up to 4.5%.

The Conservatives' cuts to science have hit hard primary funding agencies such as SSHRC, NSERC and CIHR. They have forced many labs and research institutes to close and forced promising early-career researchers to move abroad for research opportunities.

A letter of concern signed by University of Ottawa professor David Bryce and 46 other top scientists on the moratorium on NSERC's major resources support program said:

There are now no funding streams dedicated to the purchase of scientific equipment or to operate nationally and internationally unique resources. The loss of the MRS program in particular means that resources built up over many years could be lost or made inaccessible due to loss of personnel needed to sustain the resource.

The principal investigator for the advanced laser light source, the first and only large-scale laser user facility in Canada, described the sudden cut of his funding as a bullet to the head.

Pieces form the whole. One cannot expect that Canada will be in the position to lead the global push for innovation in the 21st century on one hand, but then on the other, ruthlessly slash the scientific research capacity from which innovation stems. One cannot expect that the voices of Canadian scientists will be the ones that inspire the world, but still choose to muzzle many and cast over all the fear of retribution.

The innate human drive of curiosity is a powerful and beautiful thing, but that which leads us to world-changing discoveries is first contingent upon our freedom and capacity to innovate. That freedom, that capacity, is being taken away by the Conservative government.

Canadian scientists need the freedom to speak freely and have their work judged not by political loyalty tests but by their peers in the field. Ensuring scientific capacity is strong means stable, sustainable funding for basic research and ensuring the next generation of Canadian scientists receive the support they need.

The NDP believes in scientific research and though it may take decades to reverse the effects of these short-sighted Conservative cuts, Canada will climb out from these new Dark Ages. We will look back at the Conservative legacy littered with logged lakes and mothball spectrometers and ask: How could we have let this happen?

Science and knowledge will prevail. Today is the first day of spring. Let us end the long Conservative winter for science and use this opposition day motion to turn things around.

Opposition Motion--ScienceBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

3:30 p.m.

Calgary Centre-North Alberta

Conservative

Michelle Rempel ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of the Environment

Mr. Speaker, I have spent the better part of my career working in research administration with academic researchers in two prestigious universities in this country. I have to say from first-hand experience working in this field that I have seen the change in funding and the impact on science and technology that has come directly from this government.

When our government took power, we increased the funding to the tri-councils. We increased funding to agencies such as the Canada Foundation for Innovation. I personally saw the installation of major research facilities that enhance the capacity for us to train students and commercialize our research. In fact, when we talk to academics across this country, people who are looking to come to this country, they know that our government has built a science capacity that allows people to stay here. We are a magnet for international research.

Every single one of these facts that my colleagues have stated have been out of context, misquoted. They are patently fearmongering. Can the member give me the exact amount of funding that the tri-councils have been reduced by? It does not exist. How about the Canada Foundation for Innovation? How about any of the departments in which we have supported science and technology? It is false and it is wrong.

Opposition Motion--ScienceBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

3:35 p.m.

NDP

Kennedy Stewart NDP Burnaby—Douglas, BC

Mr. Speaker, I know the Conservatives are busily cutting away at Statistics Canada and in fact they do not read these reports. The last report from Statistics Canada said that there was a 6% cut to science and technology in Canada. The overall spending by the government on science and technology is being cut by 6%. It is easy. Anyone can go to the web page and see that there has been a 6% cut. This cut is being felt across all scientific organizations. There have been 1,500 science and technology staff laid off. This is also in the Statistics Canada numbers.

Although the Conservatives would like to do away with this organization and they are facing a massive cut in the recent estimates, we will not let that happen. The NDP is here to stand up for science.

Opposition Motion--ScienceBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

3:35 p.m.

Liberal

Ted Hsu Liberal Kingston and the Islands, ON

Mr. Speaker, the most important part of a science conference is the informal discussions that take place in the hallways, not the formal presentations in the seminar rooms. What happens in the hallways is that people have ideas and data. They are 80% sure they understand what is going on and they share their ideas among their colleagues, who push, pull, squeeze and test the ideas. Then after those conversations, they may be 90% sure or perhaps 0% sure because someone shot down their idea. That 90% then becomes 95% and people keep talking. That is how scientific ideas are tested, hardened and refined.

I do not know if the government properly appreciates the importance of communication and of trying out ideas that one is not quite sure about, which might be wrong or embarrassing, or the effect of having media handlers follow scientists around at scientific conferences. I am wondering what my hon. colleague thinks about that.

Opposition Motion--ScienceBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

3:35 p.m.

NDP

Kennedy Stewart NDP Burnaby—Douglas, BC

Mr. Speaker, I know the member spent many years in academic halls, as have I, and we know a great many people doing research across Canada and around the world.

There is a chill being created in Canada. All one has to do to find out what is happening internationally is to look at the German researchers who have just pulled out of a major experiment in Alberta because of what is happening at the federal level. The idea that every scientific proposal has to be screened and that scientists cannot go to conferences and talk about their findings without having someone clear their notes is unacceptable. It is going to really hurt science in Canada.

Opposition Motion--ScienceBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

3:35 p.m.

NDP

Laurin Liu NDP Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC

Mr. Speaker, I have the great pleasure of speaking today on this NDP motion, which is aimed at protecting public science and the freedom of speech of scientists. This is a crucial issue because public science has direct implications for the air we breath, the water we drink and the environment around us.

Again this week, the Minister of State for Science and Technology boasted that the Canadian government had never invested so much in science. However, he forgot to mention that his government blindly made cuts to the industrial research tax credit program. By reducing the tax credit provided by the scientific research and experimental development tax incentive program, the Conservatives are trying to save $500 million at the expense of entrepreneurs and people working in innovative companies.

The Minister of State for Science and Technology also forgot to mention that it is his government that made cuts to basic research and a dozen or so research programs at Environment Canada, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Library and Archives Canada, National Research Council Canada, Statistics Canada, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the National Council of Welfare and the First Nations Statistical Institute.

We should also remember that it was this government that eliminated the research tools and instruments grants program, put a moratorium on the major resources support program of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, cut funding for the PEARL research station in the high Arctic, cut the centres of excellence budget by 17% and made the irresponsible decision to abolish funding for the experimental lakes program, a world-renowned research program.

But the most telling statistic is gross domestic expenditures on research and development—an important indicator of research and development performed in Canada—which has fallen to its lowest level in 15 years under this government. In 2011, gross spending on research and development represented 1.74% of GDP, a significant reduction from 2.09% in 2001.

The reduction in research spending undermines our ability to innovate. Again this year, Canada fell two positions in the innovation rankings by the World Economic Forum.

This all goes to show that the Conservatives are not credible when they say they are the champions of research and innovation. By cutting government programs and support for industrial research, they are setting a bad example for businesses, which are delaying their investments, and causing an exodus of researchers.

According to Dr. Matthew Stanbrook, a respirologist and editor of the Canadian Medical Association Journal:

The erosion of research funding in federal budgets raises concerns over a brain drain.

And he says that we are already seeing this brain drain. People are going to countries like the United States and Great Britain.

Dr. John Hepburn, vice-president, research and international, at the University of British Columbia, noted that we are now starting to lose talented mid-career researchers to the European Union. The EU framework program, France and Germany are all increasing their basic research envelope. He added that Germany is increasing funding for basic research by 5% and that European countries can do targeted recruitment and they are making spectacular offers. That is his main concern.

And on the business side, BlackBerry is threatening to move its research activities out of Canada. In 2011, this company invested $1.5 billion in research and development.

According to a Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters survey of Canadian businesses, 18% of businesses indicated that they will move their research activities and 69% said that they will reduce their research budget if the Conservatives go ahead with this bad policy.

In addition to having to work with increasingly tight budgets and having less access to cutting-edge research tools, Canadian scientists are having to deal with an increasingly poisoned atmosphere while the government tries to enforce a kind of law of silence.

Since coming to power, the Conservatives have tightened the leash on scientists.

On the one hand, the focus of research is controlled more and more by the government. Basic research that satisfies scientific curiosity is no longer valued. However, what the Conservatives do not understand is that basic research often leads to our greatest discoveries.

On the other hand, the government has tried to restrict scientists' freedom of speech in a number of ways: they cannot attend scientific conferences; they are not allowed to speak directly to specialized journalists; and certain studies that could contradict the policies and ideology of the Conservative government are not published.

I have come up with some particularly absurd examples of government censorship. Scientist Scott Dallimore was told that the minister's office had to approve his message before he spoke to the media. His research was about flooding that occurred in northern Canada 13,000 years ago.

I have another example of this government's paranoia. An Ottawa Citizen journalist called the National Research Council to obtain information about a Canada-U.S. study on the geometry of snowflakes. It only took him 15 minutes to contact a NASA scientist, but the NRC response was late and provided only after 11 officials exchanged 50 emails.

The Conservative government's attitude towards its scientists is problematic in many ways. Taxpayers have paid for these studies and therefore it seems only right that they be published and promoted.

Censorship affects democracy. Public policies must be based on science, not ideological prejudices. With its reign of terror, the Conservative government is trying to silence scientists who could contradict it. That is unacceptable.

Furthermore, Canada's ability to innovate relies on the rapid and open dissemination of the results of scientific and technical research. Knowledge is acquired from the experiments conducted. It can be compared to the construction of a house: it is built brick by brick, fact by fact. If the government holds back information, science does not advance as quickly.

In closing, I would like to say a few words about one of these programs—the Experimental Lakes Area program—which is mentioned in the third part of today's motion.

In the previous budget, the Conservative government announced that it would stop funding the Experimental Lakes Area program at the end of the month. The cancellation of this program by the Conservatives marks the end of 44 years of continuous research to improve fisheries and water quality.

New buyers have expressed an interest in the site, but the Conservatives are already dismantling the Experimental Lakes Area research facility, which will make transferring the site to a new operator much more difficult.

Our hopes that the open-air laboratory would remain under federal management were dashed, but will the Conservative government at the very least not sabotage the program so that the site can retain its scientific value in the long term?

I hope that the Conservative government will use the 2013 budget it is introducing tomorrow to fix its mistakes.

The government must invest more in Canada's research capacity. It must stop firing and harassing federal scientists, and it must provide better support for companies that want to invest in research and development in Canada. Thousands of good jobs depend on that investment.

In closing, I believe that we must leave future generations a legacy instead of the huge environmental debt that the Conservatives are running up.

I therefore ask all members of the House to support the NDP motion.

Opposition Motion--ScienceBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

3:45 p.m.

Cambridge Ontario

Conservative

Gary Goodyear ConservativeMinister of State (Science and Technology) (Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario)

Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate my colleagues across the way, but I have to point out a number of mistakes they have made in their research. First, the member said we reduced funding for industrial research. That is factually incorrect. Originally it was about $83 million or $84 million a year. We added an additional $110 million to that program. The member voted against it. That could perhaps be why she does not know. We also have increased science funding by an additional $8 billion. I know that when I went to school, grade three mathematics suggested that $8 billion was more than not.

However, I also want to mention a couple of names because the member talked about migration out of Canada. We have a net migration of brains in Canada. Let me ask my hon. colleague what she thinks about Marcel Babin, from France, coming here; Ali Emadi, who is a hybrid powertrain expert, one of the world's best, coming out of the United States; and Oliver Ernst from Germany, structural neurobiology, all basic research.

I have a huge list that I would be happy to table of some of the brightest minds on the planet who are desperate to come to Canada to do their research because of our funding.

Opposition Motion--ScienceBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

3:50 p.m.

NDP

Laurin Liu NDP Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC

Mr. Speaker, if the Conservatives continue to cut funding for science, people will not choose to stay.

The numbers speak volumes, and I would like to share some with the House. We know that investment in research and development in Canada amounted to 1.92% of our gross domestic product in 2009. That is almost one whole percentage point lower than the United States' total investment in research and development. It is also lower than the OECD average, which is 2.33%.

It is therefore clear that the Conservative government has nothing to be proud of when it comes to its record on research and development. Clearly, if the Conservative government continues to cut funding for science and basic research, Canadian scientists will continue to leave.

Opposition Motion--ScienceBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

3:50 p.m.

Liberal

Ted Hsu Liberal Kingston and the Islands, ON

Mr. Speaker, I want to ask a question about the last part of the motion regarding the Experimental Lakes Area. In response to questions in question period on the Experimental Lakes Area, the DFO minister said his department is still doing research on freshwater at the Winnipeg Freshwater Institute. However, I do not know if the government realizes that scientists at the Winnipeg Freshwater Institute actually use the Experimental Lakes Area as a place to do experimental work. I am wondering if my colleague could comment on that.

Opposition Motion--ScienceBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

3:50 p.m.

NDP

Laurin Liu NDP Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC

Mr. Speaker, the Conservative government's policy makes absolutely no sense. We know that the Experimental Lakes Area is part of a unique program that is useful for science, the protection of our waters and research on our environment and our health.

I would also like to come back to what the parliamentary secretary said earlier about the migration of brains, because we know that the brain drain is a reality, as I said in my speech. Dr. John Hepburn said that we are now starting to lose talented mid-career researchers to the EU. Furthermore, according to a survey on the concerns of Canadian manufacturers and exporters, Canadian businesses are thinking about moving their research and development activities to other countries that are more open to industrial innovation.

Opposition Motion--ScienceBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

3:50 p.m.

NDP

Jamie Nicholls NDP Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC

Mr. Speaker, we have yet another casualty of the ideological Conservative government. The Helmholtz Institute that was working with the University of Alberta has now pulled out. This is a major loss for a Canadian university, and it is all due to the ideological position of the Conservative government that is hurting research, hurting science.

I have spoken with researchers from the University of Alberta, and they said they did not have the logistical support of the federal government to run this kind of collaboration. We see yet another brain drain that has gone on due to the ideology of the government. Losing $25 million for the University of Alberta is significant. Could the hon. member speak to this point?

Opposition Motion--ScienceBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

3:50 p.m.

NDP

Laurin Liu NDP Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC

Mr. Speaker, it is clear that the Conservative government's policy is undermining our international reputation. I thank my hon. colleague for his intervention. We also know that this government does not have a clear plan to provide the necessary framework for science and technology in Canada.

I would like to quote from an article written by the hon. member for Nepean—Carleton concerning his version of a potential policy for science and technology. In the article, he suggests that instead of funding public science, that money should be offered to researchers as prizes, which I think is ridiculous. He boasted about a recommendation made to the Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities, saying:

In Canada, the House of Commons transport committee unanimously made the cost-neutral recommendations to the government to “redirect a portion of its existing research and its innovation budget away from institutions and toward substantial prize money”.

I find that position completely ridiculous.

Opposition Motion--ScienceBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

3:50 p.m.

Cambridge Ontario

Conservative

Gary Goodyear ConservativeMinister of State (Science and Technology) (Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario)

Mr. Speaker, we could spend the day sending barbs back and forth. I could remind the member that just a couple of weeks ago, Fraunhofer announced that it would partner with the University of Western Ontario. We could also tell the member opposite that this idea about using federal funding as awards to stimulate research in areas of critical importance is very common around the world and has worked extremely well at meeting the needs and the challenges that societies face around the world. This is not in lieu of anything else. It is an idea that we consider to boost our scientific outputs.

It does, however, give me great opportunity to highlight the approach of the Government of Canada to supporting science and technology, which has been a major priority of our government since coming to office.

In 2007 the Prime Minister launched the science and technology strategy, a multi-year strategy, and since then we have made great strides and significant investments to strengthen Canada's advantages.

We are quickly establishing Canada's leadership in many scientific fields. For example, last February, a Canadian team, led by the TRIUMF physics lab in Vancouver, announced the promising news that it had developed a method of making the next generation medical isotope in existing cyclotron. What this means is that we will no longer need to use nuclear reactors. In coming years, this advancement will help hospitals, save time and money and reduce patient wait times and improve treatment protocols.

A few months later, in April, a Canadian scientific team was part of the groundbreaking study that revealed ten distinct types of breast cancer. This discovery promises to make diagnoses more precise and ultimately allow for more effective treatments. We are very proud of saying yes and voting to fund these types of initiatives.

In June researchers at the University of Montreal published their development of a new approach to visualize how proteins actually assemble themselves in a chemical reaction. This could lead to not only a much better understanding of diseases such Alzheimer's or Parkinson's, but it could have wider implications on how the world looks at things such as biomedical basic science.

In September researchers at the University of Waterloo's Institute for Quantum Computing participated in a groundbreaking experiment that even I find hard to believe. They teleported a particle over a distance of 143 kilometres. This is actually the farthest distance of teleportation that ever happened on this planet. This institute is part of a global effort to develop quantum Internet, which again will be Canadians behind changing the way we do business on the Internet.

Promising advancements are also emerging from Canadian involvement in pure science at CERN, the European Nuclear Research Organisation. Canadian researchers, funded in part by this federal government, were partners in this year's great discoveries, like measuring the intrinsic properties of antimatter atoms and identifying the elusive Higgs boson, an elementary particle in the standard model of particle physics, sufficiently well known to have entered popular culture.

Another significant event that Canadian researchers were involved in that took place in Ottawa just last fall and again funded by the federal government's dollars, was the National Research Council's achievement, which I believe is a major milestone for aviation. In fact, a civil jet powered by 100% unblended biofuel was flown. This is a historic flight that symbolizes a significant step, not only for the aerospace industry but also for the advancement of sustainable sources of renewable energy. That is exactly why, on my side of the House, we vote yes to funding science and technology at every chance we are given.

Our celebrated astronaut, a personal friend of mine, Chris Hadfield, is currently serving as the first Canadian Commander of the International Space Station. We have been delighted for months with his engaging tweets, his humour, his incredible photographs of earth from the International Space Station. In fact, his communications have become almost more popular than the President of the Treasury Board's, if I can send a little humour out there.

These are just a few examples of only the research that made it to the headlines last year. We can take pride in these achievements and we definitely do that, not only as Canadians and members of Parliament, but as members of the global scientific community. That is because science knows no borders. It benefits everyone.

We know that science has to keep up with the frontiers and the challenges that face the globe and our nations. That is why we are focusing on such priorities as the Freshwater Institute in Winnipeg, the Bayfield Institute in Burlington and cleaning up Lake Winnipeg and Lake Simcoe.

I would remind members of the House that just a few years ago, in the midst the worst global economic downtown since the Great Depression, governments around the world were facing very difficult choices, not only for us in Canada, but countries all over the world. They continue to do so in many instances.

We have seen difficult cuts to science and technology spending from many of our peer nations, cuts that have cost scientists and professors in nations, such as England, the United States and many others. In contrast, in Canada, our Prime Minister took an entirely different approach. We chose to invest in science and technology.

The opposition, commonly known in the House as the no discovery party, voted against each and every one of the budgets that contained more funding for research. Now the New Democrats are standing wanting us to support an endeavour that they voted against in the first place.

We have made historic investments in science infrastructure, ensuring that our scientists have state of the art laboratories and equipment. Through the knowledge infrastructure program, we invested $2 billion in more than 500 post-secondary research infrastructure projects all across the country.

We did this when jobs were needed the most, but the NDP voted against this $2 billion, which went on to be leveraged by the provinces, the private sectors and the institutions to total over $5 billion. These are good quality jobs for our construction sector when they need it most and laboratories and research capacities for our scientists today and tomorrow.

We know that investments in science and technology and innovation create those high-quality and value-added jobs. They grow our economy and are fundamental to the long-term prosperity of the country.

However, the opposition rejects science when it is not convenient. For example, the NDP leader recently went to the United States and attacked the Keystone XL pipeline, when science has said it is supportable. The New Democrats attack it when it is not convenient for them.

We continue to strengthen research infrastructure through organizations such as the Canadian Foundation for Innovation. Over the years, we have given them over $1 billion to put state-of-the-art equipment into their new laboratories and facilities. Of course, the NDP voted against that as well.

I would like to mention for the NDP that the $2 billion in the knowledge infrastructure program was a stimulus project. It was for two years and it ended. The member takes that information, twists it and suggests that it has been cut. It was a temporary program. The definition of temporary is that it comes and we bump up the expenditure. When it ends, and it has done its job remarkably well, that expenditure is not in the funding. However, the NDP twists those facts.

One fact that the New Democrats continue to ignore is that since 2006, when this government came to office, we have increased science and technology by $8 billion in new dollars. We have made significant investments in basic science and scientific research at colleges and universities across Canada.

Do not just listen to me. The OECD has said that Canada ranks at the top of the G7 in higher education expenditures on R and D as expressed as a percentage of our GDP. Our government is committed to building on these significant achievements. One of the ways we are doing that is through government programs that connect Canadian researchers and institutions to the international community to strengthen Canada's world-class research talent and reputation.

We have programs such as the Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships, the Banting Postdoctoral Fellowships and the Canadian Excellence Research Chairs program that ensure that the brightest minds on the planet want to come to Canada, the brightest minds who are already here want to stay here and we have the ability to train the next generation brightest minds.

The Canada Excellence Research Chairs is a $10 million program over seven years. It is the most generous program on the planet. That is exactly why we have a brain gain in the country, despite what one might hear from the opposition.

We are delivering programs that enhance collaboration as well among the private and public sectors, programs such as the Centres of Excellence for Commercialization and Research, the College and Community Innovation Program, Business-Led Networks of Centres of Excellence and the Industrial Research and Development Internships program. These build industry and academic connections that lead to new products and new processes that will lead to new and better jobs and economic strength.

Our efforts are clearly making a difference. In a highly competitive global environment, where innovation cannot lag behind and collaboration matters more each day, we cannot stay constantly with what we have done in the past, but must look to the future and organize our scientific endeavours with that in mind.

Perhaps the Leader of the Opposition can take notes on this fact and share some of the following scientific facts on his next field trip outside Canada, rather than propaganda that costs Canadians jobs and security.

Last fall, the Council of Canadian Academies, an independent study group, released a report showing that Canadian science and technology was healthy. It is growing and it is recognized around the globe for its excellence, not in Canada or outside Canada by the NDP, but by the top scientific researchers around the world. They ranked Canada's science and technology as fourth in the world, only behind the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany. It was not fourth as a percentage of our population or as a percentage of our GDP, but in absolute terms. They also said that with less than 0.5% of the globe's population, Canada produced more than 4% of the globe's scientific papers and nearly 5% of the world's most frequently cited papers.

Canada clearly is punching above its weight in scientific expertise. Our reputation is helping to further strengthen that and our position and we do not expect or desire to lose that momentum.

Canada has become a powerful magnet for high-quality researchers from abroad. We are pleased that researchers come to Canada to do their work and our researchers go to their nations. That is part of the ongoing ebb and tide of international scientific co-operation. We do not just force our scientists to stay here, we share them with the rest of the world and the rest of the world shares theirs with us.

That is why we will see a change of scientific numbers in Canada, but the bottom line is, as pointed out by many of the researchers, Canada has become a powerful magnet for high-quality researchers from around the world.

Unlike the opposition, our government is extremely proud of the world-class work that our scientists and researchers do. We value and support the important work they do every day. We rely on the critical knowledge that they produce to help us form public policy and meet the needs of Canadians, not just today, not necessarily yesterday, and certainly tomorrow.

Our government employs and supports scientists and researchers in countless capacities. In 2011-12 alone more than 20,000 scientific and professorial personnel worked for the federal government, including some 7,000 engaged in research and development.

The exemplary work of these individuals helps us achieve key social goals, such as improving public health, ensuring safety of foods and products, building strong and vibrant economies all across the nation and ensuring a clean and healthy environment for future generations.

As a government, we understand that for these benefits to be fully realized, research findings must be effectively communicated and shared with Canadians. On federal science, as with all matters, the government's policy is to provide the public with clear and objective information about policies, programs and services, and there are many avenues through which this can happen.

For example, each year scientists at federal departments and agencies produce thousands of peer-reviewed articles, research reports and data sets that are available to other scientists, to Canadians and to other scientific communities around the world.

For example, Environment Canada participated in more than 1,300 media interviews. In 2010, its scientists published 524 peer-reviewed journal articles. In 2012, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada issued 1,142 peer-reviewed scientific publications and 711 non-peer-reviewed publications. In 2010, NRCan published 487 scientific publications.

These are just a few of the numerous departments and agencies that actively share their research. The numbers show that this government not only stands behind its scientists and supports them in their work but also makes the data they generate available to Canadians and makes more data available to Canadians than ever before.

In recent years the government has also unveiled new measures to increase Canadians' access to federally funded scientific data.

For example, in 2012 the government enacted changes providing Canadians free access to Statistics Canada's main socio-economic database, CANSIM. Another example is the government's action plan on open government, led by the President of the Treasury Board.

Open government is based on three core initiatives: open data, open information and open dialogue.

Open data is about offering government data in a useful format. It allows citizens, the private sector and non-governmental organizations to leverage government data in innovative new ways. Open information is about proactively releasing information on government activities to Canadians on an ongoing basis. Open dialogue is about giving Canadians in an online community a stronger say in the development of government policies and so on.

Through this initiative, the federal government launched its open data portal, a one-stop shop for federal government data that can be downloaded free of charge by Canadian citizens, researchers, voluntary organizations, private sector business, and the list goes on and on. In fact, the portal features thousands of government data sets now freely available to the public.

We have also put in place initiatives to share federal scientific knowledge directly with Canadians. That can be found at the website science.gc.ca.

These communication initiatives play an important role in our government's science and technology strategy, and it is through this strategy that we have redefined the way governments, business people and the research community band together and work together to drive economic activity through science.

We are working to bring the private, public and academic sectors together for the benefit of all Canadians. Why? It is because, as the Prime Minister has often said, science powers commerce. By moving this data out of our laboratories onto our factory floors and out to the living rooms and hospitals of the world, we will not only achieve more jobs and economic growth here, and a better quality of life, but we will also help people around the world do exactly the same thing.

Opposition Motion--ScienceBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

4:10 p.m.

NDP

Kennedy Stewart NDP Burnaby—Douglas, BC

Mr. Speaker, at the end of his speech the minister mentioned a free sharing of data through CANSIM, which is a great service that is offered to Canadians.

There is a table that StatsCan puts together using CANSIM data, table 380-0056. Table 380-0056 shows that in 2010-2011 the federal government spent $12 billion on science and technology, in 2011-2012 it spent $11.6 billion, and in 2012-2013 it spent $10.9 billion.

As 12, 11 and 10 are descending, that is a cut. Does the minister agree with that?

Opposition Motion--ScienceBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

4:15 p.m.

Conservative

Gary Goodyear Conservative Cambridge, ON

Mr. Speaker, I would ask that especially in the House of Commons, the member do better research than that. In the last budget alone there was an additional $1.1 billion for science, technology and innovative firms.

Opposition Motion--ScienceBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

4:15 p.m.

Liberal

David McGuinty Liberal Ottawa South, ON

Mr. Speaker, I will recount for the House an episode from several years ago that really illustrates the current government's approach to information and science.

The minister's colleague, the present Minister of Foreign Affairs, was then the Minister of the Environment. Apparently a leak occurred in Environment Canada, according to the minister, who then summarily dispatched the RCMP to arrest a clerk who was responsible for clippings in the morning at the Department of the Environment. The clerk was led out in handcuffs in front of over 200 employees at a science-based department called Environment Canada.

Let us take this theme of environment and give this recount for Canadians: the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy, gone; Sustainable Development Technology Canada, barely surviving; foundation for climate change research, eliminated; 700 and then 200 more positions announced at Environment Canada to be eliminated; the Global Environment Monitoring System, a UN partnership of decades, gone; Office of the National Science Advisor, gone; Polar Environment Atmospheric Research Laboratory, PEARL, gone; the Experimental Lakes Area, gone.

That is just one area where the government has systematically dismantled decades of investment in order to prepare Canada and its citizens for the future of adapting to and mitigating climate change.

Opposition Motion--ScienceBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

4:15 p.m.

Conservative

Gary Goodyear Conservative Cambridge, ON

Mr. Speaker, I first will congratulate the hon. member for taking the file as critic for science and technology. I look forward to working with him. I know he was quite adamant on the environment file, despite increasing greenhouse gases under his party's leadership by some 30%.

I would like to say we will take no lessons from a party that cut funding during the last economic downturn, which was nothing compared to the one we just faced a few years ago. The Liberals cut science and technology funding.

The fact is again we see the member saying things like “PEARL is closed”. That is actually incorrect. This is a building that is open. This is an infrastructure building that the federal government funds. I am not sure whether the member voted for it or against it. I am pretty convinced the New Democrats voted against it.

What we want to do is ensure that the tax dollars we are spending on science and technology, at record historic levels, are spent on the needs of the nation. Those needs change. The world faces different challenges from one year to the next. I congratulate my colleagues for recognizing that fact and that we are building capacity to do research, not just at state of the art but in ways that will change the way our social systems work and will change the economic benefits to society.