Industry committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you to the committee for this opportunity to provide input into the study. By way of introduction, BIOTECanada is the national association that represents Canada's biotech industry. Our 240 members stretch across the country. They include the large

Finance committee  I think you have to start out with the objective of making sure that it can be commercial. If it is done as an academic exercise, as I said earlier, and in between the crises you shutter it and don't use the facility or whatever facilities are developed, that would be problematic

Finance committee  It's a combined effort. It's industry, government and academia. We all have to come together. The HBEST, which is the health and biosciences economic strategy table, did a good job of starting that process. They're going through a second phase. That's the next part of this—how d

Finance committee  Again, as I said, the investment is always a big part of it. The dollars that need to flow to the sector are absolutely critical. There are some roadblocks that some of the companies have also identified most recently. If you look at AbCellera and Repare in Montreal, and other c

Finance committee  Yes, but also be careful. If you look at the TRIPS waiver, which has been in the news lately, there's a classic example of something that feels good, that feels like it's going to address a problem but I would argue that it won't. The reality is that's a really significant threat

Finance committee  That has to be at least a significant objective, because we put in all those investment dollars and we use tax credits and all, which are basically funded by the taxpayers. You create this fantastic collection of companies, and then if you allow them all to go, we miss out on the

Finance committee  I would suspect that cap is based on their capacity rather than the competition. No, I don't think that the global industry is fearful the NRC is going to move them out of the space. I think the investments in the NRC facility are absolutely fundamental because that's a good exa

Finance committee  There's no question. The other tech sectors I can't speak to, but certainly in the biotech sector it's the same landscape. We have everything we need. We have fantastic science, fantastic research and great universities. We're developing phenomenal companies, but as I said earlie

Finance committee  I haven't seen the amendment, but I'm familiar with their facility and what they're trying to do.

Finance committee  What is the cap that you're referring to? Is it the production cap?

Finance committee  It is definitely a key objective that we have to strive for. We have to create anchor companies. We've been very good as a country at creating a lot of early-stage companies, and as you indicated in your question, many of them are sold off. They go to the large multinational co

Finance committee  As I indicated, in the budget, there is $2.5 billion—almost $3 billion—in investments flowing to the sector. I think the dedicated life sciences fund is really important. It's not a large amount of money. I think we need to make that happen, make it work, see the investments flow

Finance committee  That's exactly right, and particularly in our space, where you're bringing in a chief scientific officer. They are always married to somebody equally skilled, so finding jobs for those people would be absolutely critical. I think it would obviously benefit the economy more broadl

Finance committee  It's really important, just as important as investment. The talent piece is absolutely critical. We have to be competitive, because talent, as I said earlier, is also very mobile. It's moving around. The problem we have is unlike mining, oil and gas, and forest products, which a

Finance committee  Are you talking about the large multinational companies?