Scot Davidson on Questions on the Order Paper

With regard to the government’s announcement in budget 2024 that they will create a new “capstone research funding organization”: (a) what will be the purpose of this organization; (b) how much money has been allocated to, or is projected to be required by, this organization to date and over each of the next five fiscal years; (c) what specific gaps, deficiencies, or coordination challenges in the current federal research support system is this new capstone organization intending to address; (d) what is expected to be achieved by the organization in the (i) short, (ii) medium, (iii) long, term; (e) how will capstone fit in organizationally with the (i) Canadian Institutes of Health Research, (ii) Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, (iii) Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council; (f) will the new capstone organization have any funding authority or influence over any of the entities in (e), and, if so, what are the details; (g) how will the government avoid duplication between the work of capstone and the other entities in (e); (h) what impact, if any, will the establishment and funding of capstone have on the funding of the other entities in (e); (i) what metrics will be used to assess the impact of the new capstone organization, and whether or not the government is receiving value for its money; (j) how often will the assessments in (i) take place, and how will the results be made public; (k) what will be the composition of the board, or other governing body of the capstone, and how much will they be paid; and (l) on what date is capstone expected to be fully operational?