Human Resources committee  Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. BioTalent Canada is pleased to be included in your discussion here today. We're addressing an issue that is very pertinent to the biotech sector, or the bio-economy as we like to call it, which includes industries that stretch from health,

Human Resources committee  Yes.

Human Resources committee  I will say that BioTalent Canada is not quite as advanced in terms of our other revenue sources, though the good news of the cuts is that at least 18 months was given, so that we could make some transition to see if the organization can make a fundamental shift to a different fun

Human Resources committee  Oh, I totally agree. I think the sector councils' main raisons d'être were to provide Canada, and the federal government, with accurate and timely labour market information run by organizations of industry experts. My fear is for those sector councils—not just from the biotech se

Human Resources committee  If I could add to that as well, I absolutely agree with you, Grant. Also, along with that, in coupling with another government agenda, is the immigrant-serving agencies and immigrants who are coming in, as this is going to become a more and more competitive field for Canada. Ha

Human Resources committee  Currently, our bioskills recognition program is funded by the foreign credential recognition program of the department of HRSDC. There are moneys there that we have been tapping into.

Human Resources committee  No, absolutely. In those skills, that was actually through the sector council program. While our core funding is being cut, there are still project funds that we've been told are going to be maintained by the sector council program for LMIs, occupational standards, etc. For a p

Human Resources committee  $25 million. It's a moving target. It's between $25 million and $40 million for the coming years.

Human Resources committee  Depending on what you're talking about, as I explained, about 80% of the biotechnology companies currently in Canada are SMEs. We define that as small and medium enterprises of less than 50 employees. A lot of these companies are facing two challenges. Number one is that they w

Human Resources committee  Certainly. In terms of the specific skills, right now we are certainly looking at it in biomanufacturing. That is essentially a horizontal across many, many verticals, from agricultural and agrifood, etc. About 30% of biomanufacturers right now are looking for skills to fill thos

Human Resources committee  The difference between the manufacturing—

Human Resources committee  Currently, to answer your first question, the specific skills that are lacking between manufacturing and biomanufacturing are essentially a set of skills called “good manufacturing practices”, which is a labour standard that is set by the industry itself that exceeds that which i

Human Resources committee  That's correct. They are operational standards that exceed the current government regulations for biomanufacturing. These are for anything that's dealing with food products or products that are invasive to the human body.

Human Resources committee  I would love to give you a general statement on that, but because the bio-economy is so vast—from the large pharma to nanotechnology and everything else—right now it's all over the map. There is going to be a deficiency in pharmaceuticals and pharmacology because of the clip it's

Human Resources committee  Sorry. I'll try to be brief next time.