Industry committee  Perhaps I can jump in here. You know, there's a difference in the research conducted with respect to the synchrotron and.... We're going back to “public good” science here, and perhaps this is longer-range public good. You ask a very good question; I don't have the answer righ

Industry committee  I'm not really familiar with the synchrotron project. I've been at the synchrotron; I should know more about it. But I'll explain it this way. Some of the major projects in this country have been identified by government scientists. Diamonds in Yellowknife are an example. That w

Industry committee  Well, I'm speaking of big-science projects in the long term, of the synchrotron after 50 years; what can be discovered in 50 years? When we talk about big science, we're talking about long-range science projects, such as mapping the terrain of Canada to figure out where the next

Industry committee  There are a lot of questions in there. I wish I could pick one out, to be honest. If you go to the laboratories across this country, if you go to those laboratories' science-based departments and agencies and you talk about the issues with my members, you'll know that it's not

Industry committee  We're not experts on public policy in terms of what the balance is. That's for government to decide. We're simply here today to tell you that from our point of view, the view of our members and what's happening in the scientific community, there has to be a rebalancing of that ef

Industry committee  I'll let my colleague add to this, but I think this has to do with the fact that scientists or highly qualified professionals actually get their degrees later in life, so they would be in a position now to retire. Most of the scientists are older, so that's critical in this parti

Industry committee  From our point of view, the whole idea of innovation has shifted to a short-term concept from a long-term one. For example, we see innovation as generating jobs, economic wealth. But some of the greatest discoveries anywhere have been directed at innovation over a longer term, be

Industry committee  That's a good question. I'll defer to the honourable member Mark Eyking, who said, “My passion gets out in front of me.” I'm so frustrated. For 10 years I've been frustrated with this, and perhaps that's coming out. There is a crisis, and there is a dim picture, and we're glad

Industry committee  I would say that's a fair statement for anybody in the government. No one anywhere wants to part with a pension plan.

Industry committee  We haven't hired anybody new in a long, long time, and that's the problem. We don't have the resources to hire new people, because there's no long-term commitment to funding. They would come if we committed to a long-term future for them, but this government is not committed to t

Industry committee  The average age of a researcher is 47 years old.

Industry committee  I'm not sure if your figure of $9.7 billion is correct. It's more like $26 billion. If you look at the sources, the university to the private sector--tax breaks to the private sector--and the government, it's a much bigger number. I think $9.6 billion is just the intramural in te

Industry committee  I see it every day, personally, when I talk to the scientists in the labs across the country. They're worried about what will happen as no long-term vision is done for things such as food and drugs, safety of products, or apples, if I can refer to that. I'd be crystal-balling t

Industry committee  Yes, I think that is the connection. We've realized that connection, and our campaign is to teach the public how important science is, because we believe the public elects you folks.

Industry committee  It's an excellent question. I'm a scientist. I started as a scientist, and now I'm vice-president of the organization. The most important thing for a scientist is to go out into the community and listen to what other people are doing. I used to work in the mining community, a