CETA will provide extended protection for pharmaceutical innovators
Biotechnology is a diverse sector within Canada’s vibrant scientific community that is turning cutting-edge research into innovative products and processes including generating new energy through biofuels and biomass, increasing crop yields, and improving health-care treatments with new biopharmaceuticals. Our government has ensured that Canada’s world-class researchers and competitive businesses thrive with targeted investments in research […]
We need a multi-decade, sustained effort to move country in right direction
We often wring our hands at the Canadian economy’s relative lack of capacity to innovate and commercialize. This is not a recent phenomenon. J.J. Brown, a historian of Canadian technology, wrote in his 1967 book, Ideas in Exile, that this was Canada’s most pressing issue, “… which leaves us increasingly weak in competition with other […]
Who decided biotech was a technology winner?
The federal government, regardless of political stripe, has a poor record of picking technology winners. Canadians essentially lost tens of billions when the giant white radioactive elephant Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. (AECL) had most of its assets sold at bargain basement prices to SNC Lavalin. AECL went for $15-million, with the government pledging another […]
Reaching critical mass for commercialization
We have, in Canada, the foundation for a vibrant health sciences industry. This enviable position has come as a direct result of Canada’s strong public sector support of basic health research through such leading organizations as the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), Genome Canada, and others. There has […]
Potential benefits of biomedicine, genomics-targeted health care to Canadians difficult to overstate
In less than two decades, genomics—the science focused on understanding the genetic makeup (encoded in DNA) of individual life forms—has transformed how biological research is performed in a range of fields across the life sciences. Today, the power and potential applications of genomics in sectors of vital importance to Canada’s economy (agri-food, forestry, fisheries and […]
Report arguing for mineral rights transfer to First Nations controversial
A Fraser Institute report calling for provincial governments to transfer control of non-energy mineral rights to aboriginal communities has experts talking about the proposal, with not everyone agreeing it’s a realistic policy move. Non-energy minerals include limestone, salt, potash, gravel, gold, copper, and nickel, among others. According to the April report, provinces reserve the rights […]
Economic development strategy for New Brunswick underway, surmounting obstacles
A new program to involve New Brunswick aboriginal businesses in the national shipbuilding procurement is in its early stages, with organizers working to raise awareness about opportunities in order to get business buy-in. The federal government announced in April that it would commit $200,000 to the New Brunswick Aboriginal Shipbuilding Strategy to help New Brunswick’s aboriginal […]
Youth programs good start, say aboriginal business groups, but still not enough
The growth of the Martin Aboriginal Education Initiative’s program to foster entrepreneurial skills for aboriginal youth in Grade 11 and Grade 12 will help reduce the outcome-gap between young aboriginal adults and non-aboriginal young adults, say aboriginal business groups, but the program won’t eliminate it. The Martin Aboriginal Education Initiative is a national charity […]
Ottawa needs better working relationship with aboriginal communities on resource projects: aboriginal groups
Over the next 10 years, it’s estimated major resource projects in Canada will represent $650-billion in investment, but aboriginal communities still see themselves in the dark when it comes to the federal government’s actions on natural resources and energy projects that may affect aboriginal lands and people, say some aboriginal communities and the government’s […]
How Canadian leadership in aboriginal research is realizing a shared vision
As a country preparing to celebrate its 150th anniversary in 2017, our aspirations for a just, prosperous, and resilient society call for reflection on how the experiences and aspirations of aboriginal peoples in Canada are essential to building a successful shared future. Collaborative approaches to understanding the needs and goals of aboriginal communities through […]
