Gary Goodyear

[Science and Technology, May 6th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, once again, this government put $87 million toward Arctic research. The Bloc voted against it.

I am pleased to see that the independent panel actually chose the research icebreaker, the Amundsen. Again, the Bloc voted against that research.

The Liberals have promised to raise taxes, but the question really is, when will the Bloc stand up and vote yes for the science and tech community?

[Science and Technology, May 6th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member should know that these decisions are made by independent peer review panels. These are experts in the field who choose specific projects for research funding.

This government chose to put $5.1 billion toward science and technology. The Bloc members, all of them, voted against that. They voted against research funding at Université Laval. They voted against the Vanier Scholarships, which the Université de Montreal, McGill and Laval all share in. The Quebec Bloc voted against that.

[Science and Technology, May 6th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, what the member fails to realize and refuses to quote is that the president of McGill University just yesterday said that we have attracted 900 researchers from around the world. This country is number one in the G7 with respect to basic discovery research as a percentage of GDP and the Bloc votes against it every time. The Bloc members vote against funding for their universities, their colleges, their scientists, but they would not raise taxes like the Liberals would.

[Science and Technology, May 5th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, once again, let me point out that this government made a decision to put $5.1 billion into science and technology. A lot of that is for basic discovery research. The NDP voted against all of it.

Last week, I had the pleasure of announcing the Canada Vanier scholarships, which are attracting scientists from all around the world. The president of McGill University told me that 900 scientists have come from around the world to do their research in Canada. The reason they are doing that is we have a gold medal game going on here. We support our scientists.

[Science and Technology, May 5th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, the member is completely misinformed. This government has put in $5.1 billion. That is the decision by the Conservative government to support scientists and science and technology. That member voted against all of it.

These decisions are made by independent peer review panels, scientists reviewing the scientific quality of the research, and that is exactly how it should be. I cannot believe the member is suggesting that the government get involved and interfere with an independent panel.

[Scientific and Technology, May 5th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, that member is absolutely incorrect. Canada is number one in the G7 in terms of GDP expenses on R & D.

The decision with respect to the observatory is made by an independent peer review scientific panel. The member voted no for the $5.1 billion.The government makes the decision to put the money in but an independent panel makes the decision as to which scientist gets the funding. That panel chose someone else.

[Scientific and Technology, May 5th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, this government supports science and technology. Every budget that this government has tabled has increased funding for science and technology. This time we put $5.1 billion of new money into science and technology and the Bloc voted against all of it.

[Science and Technology, May 5th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I know that the member was living in the United States during the cuts under the Liberal government.

Let me just inform the member that nobody on the Liberal side voted against the strategic reviews in 2006 when strategic reviews came up for a vote. None of the members opposite voted against that.

This government took the recommendations and put that money back into science and technology. Not only did we do that, but we added $5.1 billion. On Friday I was in the United States, and they wanted to hear the good news of what Canada—

[Science and Technology, May 5th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, the comment of the member is absolutely false. In fact, the last time this country faced a recession, in the mid-1990s, the Liberal government cut scientific research by $442 million.

We take a different approach. We have increased funding by $5.1 billion. Let me read what the member for Etobicoke—Lakeshore has said:

I would look for program review within the government to pull as much savings as we can out.

Those are the Leader of the Opposition's own words.

[Science and Technology, May 5th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, the only government that cut funding to HIV-AIDS was the Liberal government in 2005.

What the report fails to tell Canadians is that the Conservative government committed $94 million to HIV-AIDS research this year. We committed $111 million to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for HIV-AIDS, and this research is still getting all that funding from this Conservative government.