Industry committee  I don't want to be too simplistic here, but it does come down to investment. As I mentioned, the investment by the Government of Canada in commercialization involving our institutions is really very small, with only one in five of the institutions having access to this very small

Industry committee  I've mentioned health care. There's the medical doctor, but then there is a whole range of professions that support the doctor. I mentioned the railway industry. Aerospace also is an important employer in Canada. Did I mention construction? That's a very important area. Small bus

Industry committee  I'll mention one tax area that I know a lot about. I'm rather new in this sector, so I won't give you a detailed answer to the whole question. We continue to pay GST at our educational institutions, and municipalities don't. So we'd like not to pay GST. That would be very helpf

Industry committee  I don't recall giving a specific number.

Industry committee  Absolutely. We are actively discussing this issue with the Railway Association of Canada. They have come to us. We are also discussing the shortage of IT graduates with Microsoft and Cisco Systems. So we do have quite a strong engagement with the private sector. The degree of

Industry committee  They're rooted in their communities, which is why they call them community colleges. They have boards made up of local business leaders. They have advisory groups on the various areas that define the needs and the teaching. That's their greatest strength. They can change gears re

Industry committee  I touched on both. I admitted that we have to work at increasing our knowledge of the problems surrounding infrastructure and output capacity. We need to do some profound research to understand these matters. I won't say it's come upon us quickly, but we're rather taken aback b

Industry committee  Certainly. I'm not being negative about the provincial effort. In some cases I could be, but there are clearly successes. We're facing a national skills shortage, a crisis of significant proportions, and I could list the industries that are pleading for more graduates from our in

Industry committee  Thank you for that. Indeed, it's more than bricks and mortar. We're talking about equipment. That's really important. If we don't have the latest, we can't train the students in the highest and most current technologies. Also, we're facing a really big challenge with human res

Industry committee  Thank you very much for your question, which goes to the heart of our argument. We strongly support investments in universities. We believe in discovery research, but indeed there is a more applied side of research, in which our institutions have developed a very great success.

Industry committee  My argument in the long term is that we need to recapitalize these institutions. They were all built--not all, but an overwhelmingly number--in the 1960s. They haven't been adequately recapitalized or supported over time with additional resources. In fact, in some jurisdictions t

Industry committee  I would just briefly comment that in our sector overwhelmingly the investments are by the private sector. Many of the cases cited in our information involve significant private sector funding. I'm not saying that it's adequate or there shouldn't be much more, but I know that one

Industry committee  I really would invite the members to look at this brochure to understand the remarkable successes of commercialization in community colleges, institutes, polytechnics, CEGEPs, and so on. The examples are stunning. It is market pull. It is what the local businesses have identified

Industry committee  Good morning, Mr. Chair. Good morning, everyone. I am pleased to meet you this morning. Canada's system of community colleges is an important part of our research and development capacity in Canada. I want to tell you a few things about it. We represent 150 community colleges