House Environment Committee needs to study real climate issues
Anyone who has managed to sit through the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development this Parliament knows that its achievements to date have been far from ambitious. By studiously avoiding any potentially controversial items, the committee has managed to fly under the radar for much of the session. Relatively innocuous studies on conservation […]
Canada’s carbon emissions on the rise
Canada’s carbon emissions increased for the second consecutive year according to the federal government’s latest report to the United Nations, and Environment Canada projects that the country will fail to meet its 2020 emissions reduction target under the Copenhagen Accord. Nationwide greenhouse gas emissions rose to 702 megatonnes (Mt) in 2011, according Environment Canada’s […]
Innovation
Our government’s telecommunications policy was not created overnight
The following is an edited copy of Industry Minister James Moore’s speech to the Canadian Club of Ottawa on Sept. 18. OTTAWA—Canadians have said consistently that their top priority for the Government of Canada is the economy and, as a result, our government has listened, is focused, and is delivering on key issues […]
Current status and future of Canadian science policy
As minister of state for science and technology, I’ve had the opportunity to meet Canadian innovators, academics and entrepreneurs across the country. Canada’s researchers bring great energy, intelligence and talent to science, technology and innovation from coast-to-coast-to-coast. I am consistently impressed with the depth and span of Canada’s innovation landscape. Our government remains committed […]
Federal scientists guided by government’s communications policy
(The following is an edited speech by Conservative MP Mike Lake, Parliamentary secretary to the minister of industry, on Oct. 28 in the House on whether or not federal government scientists are being muzzled by the government. He was asked about why hundreds of federal scientists, in a survey for the Professional Institute of […]
Getting innovation to market, encouraging an innovative ecosystem, culture
(The following is an edited excerpt of a speech by Michelle Rempel, minister of state for Western Economic Diversification in the House on Oct. 28 on Bill C-4, the Budget Implementation Act). It is time for us to take a look at the last five years of our country’s economy. If we rewind […]
Canada needs an innovation agenda directed by knowledge, not mythology
CALGARY, ALTA.—It has become almost a throwaway that innovation is vital for Canada’s future. Indeed, for any Canadian government these days, being against innovation is like being against hockey. But as often as we are told we are good at hockey, which is fairly easy to substantiate, we are told that we are […]
Tapping into Canada’s incredible storehouse of research opens potential
Nearly two years ago, Marie-Claude Héroux and Grégoire Dorval, the founders of Champignons Advitam Inc. in Saint-Ours, Que., were looking for a way to expand the product line of their mushroom business. A chance encounter with Université de Montréal biology professor Mohamed Hijri, an expert in fungi, was the beginning of a partnership that has helped Héroux and […]
Getting it right: government’s role in supporting R&D and commercialization
Canada’s innovation and productivity shortcomings are well-documented and much-lamented. The federal government clearly has a role to play in helping solve these issues, but the challenge is to find the most effective way to direct the government’s major investments in research and development. How can government best support the effective translation of world-class […]
