Science and Research

This House of Commons Standing Committee on Science and Research meeting studied the government's science, research, and industrial strategy. Appearing were Mark Schaan, Associate Deputy Minister, and Nipun Vats, Assistant Deputy Minister, from the Department of Industry, followed by the Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Industry.

Mark Schaan stated that the department's role is to mobilize science, research, technology, and talent to support national prosperity, and that talent is essential for competitiveness in areas like AI and clean tech. He confirmed that the MOU with Cohere is a strategic signal, not a procurement requirement, and that departments remain accountable for their own procurement decisions. On expenditure reductions, he said ISED identified efficiencies in programmatic elements like global innovation clusters and internal operations, but that the commitment to science and research programs remains solid. He committed to providing a written response on whether Brookfield participated in the AI strategy consultation, noting that the department provided Parliament with a list of all meetings with Brookfield, which did not include discussions on the national AI strategy.

Nipun Vats explained that the talent attraction program coordinates funding for chairs, their teams, and research infrastructure, and works with immigration to expedite pathways for top researchers. He identified a stronger connection between Canadian industry and academic research as a key opportunity to supercharge the ecosystem, noting that Canada lags behind other countries in private sector investment in research. On the strategic science fund, he said it operates on a five-year cycle and that a review process will assess organizations at each interval. He confirmed that he and his team have never spoken to Brookfield.

Minister Mélanie Joly stated that the government's industrial strategy is a science strategy built on three pillars: protect, create, and attract, with a historic $1.7-billion investment to attract over 1,000 world-class researchers. She said the government is in a "brain gain mode" and that universities are already recruiting, with a focus on francophone talent. On the college and community innovation program, she pointed to the new defence industrial strategy and the BOREALIS initiative as sources of future funding for colleges. She defended the government's record on science, citing investments in universities and the reform of the SR&ED tax incentive program to reduce red tape and speed up funding for businesses. She also noted that the share of successful French-language grant applications (25.8%) is nearly equal to English-language applications (25.3%).

The meeting included procedural debate about interpretation issues and the scheduling of the minister's appearance, which cut into the officials' question period, leading to a request for written questions.