Industry committee  That study looked at patents filed 1993-94. I think since that time there's been a much increased awareness on the part of the Canadian research community of the importance of the potential commercial value of the knowledge that is being generated in universities. Not given to you today, but in our data, and we would be happy to send it to you, is evidence of the number of patents and spinoffs that are being created as a result of the research being done in the universities.

Industry committee  Thank you for that question. Our mandate, given by Parliament, is to invest in university research, but we recognize that although knowledge in its own right is extremely valuable and leads to many unexpected economic, social, and environmental benefits, we think we can play a more active role in moving that knowledge into the commercialization arena, particularly in the area of knowledge transfer, knowledge translation.

Industry committee  In the case of the higher education R and D, it's a question of maintaining the government support for the enterprise. As Iain Stewart indicated, Canada does extremely well in government public investment in university and college-type research, and we should be very proud of that, but it's not a one-time-only event.

Industry committee  I can provide a partial answer. The Canada Foundation for Innovation, as I mentioned, funds research infrastructure. It is a co-funding model. We fund 40% of the capital of approved projects. The institutions who are our applicants have to find the other 60%, but in practice, in virtually all cases the province in which the institution is located provides another 40%.

Industry committee  It varies somewhat by program and by which funding organization we're referring to, but in our case, for the Canada Foundation for Innovation, I think that the institutions that are our applicants will be looking to the spring budget for an indication that our organization will be continued.

Industry committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will not take the full ten minutes. My thanks to the committee for the opportunity to appear before you. I am appearing with our vice-president for external and government relations, Suzanne Corbeil. This is the 21st appearance by the CFI before a committee of Parliament since its creation in 1997.

Finance committee  That is correct. We have a competition currently. Once approved by our board, the results will be announced in November. Thereafter, apart from $440 million in the research hospital fund, which is dedicated specifically to research hospitals, we will in a sense have largely committed all of our available funds and will not be able to mount another competition.

Finance committee  If the investments had not been made, what would the situation look like now? Well, one can never be sure about predicting the future, but I think we can look at what the situation was in the 1980s and early 1990s. Hardly a day that went by when a newspaper didn't feature an article about the so-called brain drain.

Finance committee  Merci, Mr. Chair, and thank you to the members of the standing committee. Today I want to talk to you about the role of the Canada Foundation for Innovation in helping to secure Canada's future prosperity and competitiveness by strengthening our capacity for leading edge research.

Bill C-2 (39th Parliament, 1st Session) committee  Thank you for the question. We have an internal whistle-blower policy related to our own activities. In terms of whistle-blower legislation or mechanisms at the institutions, I'll remind you that we fund institutions—that is, there have to be researchers behind the applications, but our applicants are the institutions—and they will have whistle-blower legislation.

Bill C-2 (39th Parliament, 1st Session) committee  In the case of the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the data management is all done within the organization.

Bill C-2 (39th Parliament, 1st Session) committee  In the case of the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the board consists of 15 members. Seven members, including the chair, are GIC appointments. The other eight are appointed by another group of 15 individuals, who are called members and who are analogous, if you will, to the shareholders of a company.

Bill C-2 (39th Parliament, 1st Session) committee  Thank you for the question. We provide to the applicants a verbatim copy of the reports of the external experts and the committees that evaluate, but deleting the names or any reference to the identity of the reviewer. That's the integrity of the peer review system. It's a time-honoured system in research and scholarship, in publishing original research.

Bill C-2 (39th Parliament, 1st Session) committee  Merci. The Canada Foundation for Innovation is committed to the principles of accountability and is comfortable with the broad objectives of the Accountability Act. It's difficult at this time to comment in any detail on the implications for CFI of Bill C-2, given its complexity and its breadth, but I would note that the CFI has always acted within the spirit of the legislation that the bill addresses.