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Results: 136 - 150 of 192
Fanny Sie
View Fanny Sie Profile
Fanny Sie
2020-06-05 14:23
This pandemic has exacerbated many existing gaps in our health care system while showing the immense value that the life sciences sector brings. Issues such as system capacity, lack of virtual care and data fragmentation across the country are igniting a pressing demand for sustainable change. We have started to see incredible flexibility and leadership in our health system's immediate response to the pandemic. However, it's important to use learnings from this crisis to catalyze meaningful long-term change.
As we shift the focus to recovery, there are great opportunities to accelerate innovation and move our country forward. The future of life sciences in Canada is extraordinarily bright. There are many actions that the government can take to promote growth at home and abroad.
First, the federal government should revive the health and biosciences economic strategy table. The announcement of the industry strategy council is a good start, but we encourage the government—with input from industry, patients and other sector stakeholders—to revitalize this work to identify specific and measurable next steps. It's also important to acknowledge the need to rethink some of the recommendations in the context of pandemic planning and of building our capacity for the next potential crisis.
Second, a strong data ecosystem is a key success factor in the response to COVID-19. The pandemic has exposed significant limitations in the ability to collect, access, integrate, share and analyze high-quality data. It has also magnified concerns that data cannot be easily compared between jurisdictions, as each province uses different data collection methodologies, standards and policies. Furthermore, most provincial data is publicly inaccessible and incomprehensive. We believe that we can win this fight through the sharing of safe and secure health care data and knowledge, abiding by local privacy laws, to better inform patient care and health system decision-making.
Lastly, there needs to be an increase in investments in programs like the Scale AI and the digital superclusters that Roche is very proud to be a part of. COVID-19 has demonstrated the catastrophic effects to both patient health and the economy as a result of a lack of constant innovation in our sector. By rewarding innovation and increasing investment into innovative technologies, such as genomic sequencing, cloud computing, digital health tools for remote patient care and monitoring, as well as medicines that deliver superior outcomes, we stand to deliver unprecedented value in both health benefits for patients and economic growth for our country. These technologies will position Canada as a leader in personalized health care and allow us to provide patients with exactly what they need from their health care systems.
Whether through diagnostics, medicines or insights, Roche is a committed partner, helping to navigate and ultimately end the COVID-19 pandemic. The life sciences sector has the amazing potential to lead the economic recovery of this country. Healthy Canadians bring a healthy economy. Through collaboration with patients, patient organizations, companies like Roche and the government, we can mobilize these ideas into action.
Thank you very much for your time today. We are happy to address any questions you may have.
View Sébastien Lemire Profile
BQ (QC)
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
In your remarks, you mentioned a number of support programs for industry and innovation, including the Industrial Research Assistance Program, the Strategic Innovation Fund, Canada's superclusters, Innovative Solutions Canada, and several others.
Do you have the feeling that those programs have been well used? In a situation of recovery and long-term vision, which are likely to become permanent, in your view?
Mitch Davies
View Mitch Davies Profile
Mitch Davies
2020-06-05 11:17
I would say that it was identified at the earliest stage that these industrial support programs and research and development programs would be key tools to mobilize Canada to respond to COVID. In fact, I would highlight the support that we've been able to generate through the innovation superclusters across Canada, which have now dedicated some $55 million to a variety of projects that are very critical in terms of meeting the needs for critical equipment and also to develop solutions to the challenges that we're now facing. These programs came into use, and they have been able to channel their support to this current challenge and have been quite effective in that regard.
I would also say that the NRC IRAP network, which is a long-standing, very solid network across the country with over 200 advisers, has been very helpful in connecting supply and demand and unlocking the potential of our innovators to solve the problems we're facing here in Canada.
Roger Scott-Douglas
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Roger Scott-Douglas
2020-06-04 15:54
Thanks very much, Mr. Chair, committee members and other witnesses. It's a pleasure indeed to be here.
I'm Roger Scott-Douglas, secretary general of the National Research Council. I'm very happy to be joined today by David Lisk, vice-president, industrial research assistance program; Jean-François Houle, the vice-president responsible for our COVID pandemic challenge response program; and Lakshmi Krishnan, director general, human health therapeutics branch.
Like others, I will begin by briefly explaining a little bit about the National Research Council.
We are the largest federal science organization, with close to $1.2 billion in expenditures. Over the course of the last 104 years that we've been existence, we've served as an instrument of the federal government in trying to find scientific and technological solutions to significant challenges, which is very much the call of the moment. We do that in two principal ways. We have a research and development side where over 2,000 scientists, engineers and technicians work in 14 research centres across 22 sites. On the IRAP side, the industrial research assistance program side, we also have about 400 people of whom 255 are industrial technology advisers working with close to 8,000 firms annually—high-potential, early-stage innovative firms that are so important to the innovation economy of the country.
In the context of COVID, the National Research Council, as part of the Prime Minister's announcement of the $1 billion that's been given over to COVID, received funding and support for, effectively, seven measures, which I would like to briefly outline. Then my colleagues and I would be most interested in answering any questions that members might have. I'll walk through each of them at a very high level, explaining a little bit of what lies behind them. I might, before getting into those details, talk about the important work the National Research Council, along with other science organizations across the country, has tried to provide to the community.
We've had over 350 requests for technical advice, for short-term support for companies, to provide such things as the quality assurance on N95 masks that the Public Health Agency has asked of us, and for other measures that support the community, individuals, the provision of personal protective equipment, and so on and so forth. This I say only to show how connected we are with both the larger federal group as well as communities across the country.
In terms of specific measures, I'll run through the seven key things.
The first—and this is Jean-François Houle's responsibility—is the pandemic response challenge program. We were fortunate enough to receive $15 million in the medical countermeasures announcement by the Prime Minister. There are essentially four themes or pillars to that work. All of these are collaborative programs where the National Research Council scientists pair up their expertise with individuals in academia and the private sector to come up with technological and scientific solutions to these challenges. These are short-term applied scientific efforts. The first theme is around rapid detection and diagnosis. The second theme is around therapeutics and vaccines. The third theme is monitoring and surveillance, data analysis, tracking for testing and that kind of thing. The fourth is around enabling adaptive responses, including innovative solutions for the delivery of health care. We have in the organization both the human health therapeutics branch, of which Lakshmi is the director general, and also the medical devices lab, which Jean-François will be able to speak about.
The second big thrust is the announcement of, in total, about $44 million that will be used by the National Research Council to upgrade and enhance the capacity of our Royalmount biomanufacturing facility.
It's currently a research lab. We're going to be upgrading it such that it obtains levels of good manufacturing practices and enables us to provide testing for promising vaccine candidates. Ultimately, once a candidate has been found, we hope it provides the successful industrial production for first responders and so forth.
We have three vaccine collaborations as well, with VBI Vaccines , an Ottawa-based company with an attachment to Massachusetts; VIDO-InterVac from the University of Saskatchewan; and CanSino Biologics in China, which is one of the leading international vaccine researchers.
In addition to that, on the IRAP side, which I mentioned Dave Lisk was responsible for, we're working with Innovation Canada under the innovation solutions Canada program. We have been given $15 million to set up challenges for which innovative SMEs and others will provide technological solutions. We've launched three challenges so far, surveying and assessing quite a few proposals for low-cost sensors, for diagnostic kits and for made-in-Canada filtration material. We'll be launching a couple more in the days ahead.
In addition to that, IRAP has kind of red-circled, if I can put it that way, and reallocated $12.5 million of its budget to help innovative SMEs develop proposals for the kinds of products necessary for the COVID response, such as PPE, testing diagnostics, and tracking and detection products, and that kind of work. We've also organized subject matter expert teams around those broad themes to provide expert analysis when we can.
The next area, the wage subsidy, is a very significant support. Several of the witnesses have spoken about it. Some groups fell between the gaps, particularly early-stage pre-revenue innovative firms, high-potential firms. The government has provided $250 million to IRAP for the innovation assistance program, which effectively provides highly qualified personnel with a wage subsidy—it's about $10,000 per employee, retroactive to April 1—with the idea of delivering the program as quickly as possible. Unlike others, it is not an entitlement program; it's a discretionary program. We're evaluating firms with the highest potential to go forward. We're happy to say that as of May 28, we have already established 1,939 contribution agreements for close to $200 million.
The final thrust of work, which is a critically important part of our future, is youth, particularly those highly qualified future STEM innovators. In that regard, we have a couple of very important programs under way. The government has a long-standing youth employment program. It was topped up to the extent of about $153 million—IRAP will have a portion of that—and will be targeting SMEs, meeting their needs to keep graduates. Within the National Research Council, we have a need to bring on STEM grad students and post-docs, and we've allocated $7.5 million to do that.
Thank you very much.
Ghislain Gervais
View Ghislain Gervais Profile
Ghislain Gervais
2020-05-26 18:01
Since February 2016, I have been president of Sollio Cooperative Group, formerly known as La Coop fédérée.
Supply chains and food self-sufficiency are issues of great concern to us. In operation for nearly 100 years, Sollio Cooperative Group is the only Canada-wide agricultural supply cooperative. We represent more than 122,000 members, agricultural producers and consumers in 50 traditional agricultural and consumer cooperatives.
We have more than 15,000 employees in our three divisions: Sollio Agriculture supplies farms; Olymel specializes in pork and poultry farming and processing; and BMR is one of Quebec's leading retailers of construction materials and hardware.
Last year, our cooperative surpassed $7 billion in consolidated sales, and this year we will surpass $8 billion.
Having said that, I think it is important to bear in mind that our supply chains were under strain even before the pandemic, because of the strike at Canadian National, or CN, and the rail blockades, to say nothing of access to the Chinese market.
Agricultural producers and food processors are feeling the repercussions of the pandemic, which must be limited to protect the supply chain.
At Olymel alone, costs to date amount to more than $20 million, not counting lost market margins. While unforeseen costs mount—costs we assume in their entirety—American processing plants are receiving direct government assistance to stay open.
Recently, we urged governments to create a specific assistance program to ensure the agri-food sector's viability and the food security of Canadians. Measures announced since then by the Canadian government are a step in the right direction, but still clearly not enough. The government must above all not presume that we will be able to withstand a second wave of the pandemic if the dire needs that became obvious during the first wave are ignored.
We have already learned some lessons, and I'd like to take this opportunity to share our thoughts with you. We have defined areas for action that correspond to our vision of the economic recovery to be undertaken. Our aim is to help the agri-food chain face current and future challenges.
First, there is the increase in productivity, which goes hand in hand with infrastructure automation and robotization.
Second, greater food self-sufficiency is necessary, but agri-food exporters must also be supported through investments in food processing.
Developing the vitality of the regions is also an important aspect of the recovery, in particular by stepping up the deployment of adequate telecommunications infrastructure.
Our fourth area for action is support for a more sustainable economy which we believe involves significant support for the digitization and performance of agriculture.
Another avenue to consider is the promotion and support of the cooperative model, which has proven its worth and makes it possible to develop large-scale companies. The cooperative business model also reflects Canadian values.
Promoting the frontline trades represents the last, but not least, area for action. There are still labour shortages despite our current unemployment rates. The last few months remind us how essential the frontline trades are to our businesses and that they need to be supported.
These are the avenues we are proposing to ensure your support is well targeted and our supply chains are protected. They are necessary in order for Canada to increase its food self-sufficiency, but also to protect its capacity and its reputation as a world-class exporter, which have recently suffered.
I thank you again for your invitation. I would be pleased to answer your questions.
Ghislain Gervais
View Ghislain Gervais Profile
Ghislain Gervais
2020-05-26 18:23
Attaining food self-sufficiency will require investment in innovation.
It is important to know that operating margins are very slim in the agri-food industry. When something like COVID-19 happens, it is almost a perfect storm because the margins disappear.
We need innovation. To innovate, with robotics and modernized infrastructure, will need significant investments. However, when there is already no leeway, investments like that are more difficult because people cannot afford them. Whatever the situation, it will require innovation.
An agri-food innovation zone could be created. The potential for Canadian agri-food is immense. Canada has 37 million acres under cultivation. The Netherlands, with 2 million acres under cultivation, produces 11.2 times more agri-food value than Canada. An investment in this sector could increase that value and benefit the entire chain.
The potential is huge, and we could be part of the whole agri-food chain. It would have a major impact in all regions of Canada, build confidence in everyone involved and encourage them to invest more. It would have a snowball effect.
It could help to improve Canada's reputation as a supplier of safe and reliable food for its people, and help us continue to expand our reach into export markets.
Jim Balsillie
View Jim Balsillie Profile
Jim Balsillie
2020-05-25 14:04
Thank you, Madam Chair and committee members, for the opportunity to present today.
I'm the chair of the Council of Canadian Innovators, a national business association composed of over 120 chief executives from Canada's fastest-growing technology companies.
In March and April our council advocated for supporting high-growth technology firms that are negatively affected by the crisis. We first asked the federal government to create the Canada emergency wage subsidy for our members, and then to extend it from 10% to 75% of payroll costs. We also successfully advocated for the strategic use of programs such as IRAP, SR and ED, SIF, and RDAs because the 30% decline test did not fit for certain types of high-tech companies. These programs are essential to preserve the employer-employee relationship.
It is critical that our innovators are not just surviving but working overtime during this downturn, because their companies will drive Canada's future prosperity in the changed economy that will emerge from this pandemic. We are grateful for the support measures to date and the efforts of your committee and the dedicated civil servants across the government, but we need help focusing the government's path forward on these additional priorities:
One, create an “innovation corps” that mobilizes thousands of our brightest co-op students who had their Silicon Valley job offers rescinded. CCI has created a tech talent radar portal to help connect thousands of recent graduates with Canadian innovators. The government can use this opportunity to reverse the costs of our enormous brain drain.
Two, implement the overdue IP collective to optimize the value of taxpayer investments into R and D, and help generate and protect new intangible assets created with the recent stimulus funding.
Three, create a national data strategy for our health care sector and other strategic sectors, including agriculture, smart cities, energy and mining.
Four, fast-track the adoption of national standards and regulations for digital identification, data sharing and cybersecurity to match the shifts to online service delivery and remote work.
Five, update the Investment Canada Act to prevent leakage of strategic IP at Canadian universities and research institutions, and data in strategic sectors, including health care, smart cities and agriculture.
Six, address both supply chain and value chain resilience, and maximize economic growth by reinventing procurement approaches that strengthen Canada's innovation ecosystem. Value chains are where Canadian innovative companies compete.
Seven, use domestic fintech firms to help distribute government stimulus loans just as the U.S., U.K. and Australia have done, and resume consultations on open banking so that Canadian fintech firms can play a meaningful role in modernizing our closed banking structure.
Canada's response to this economic crisis must be different from that to the great recession. Twelve years ago, our recovery was driven by high-priced Alberta oil, buttressed by voracious Asian demand. Today, oil prices have collapsed because of a supply and demand imbalance, with part of the demand reduction structurally permanent.
The foundation of economic renewal needs to be built through innovative Canadian companies commercializing their ideas to scale, and expanding their freedom to operate into global value chains for the knowledge-based and data-driven economies. Canada needs to diversify its products, not just its markets.
Using a traditional shovel-ready physical infrastructure lens, whether for roads, bridges or hockey rinks, to stimulate demand and drive productivity has no traction in the 21st century global economy where IP and data are the most valuable economic and national security assets. What Canada needs instead is a digital policy infrastructure that facilitates productivity, prosperity and security via global value chains.
Canada's policy-makers need to jettison the outdated and corrosive neoliberal orthodoxies that left us vulnerable. Policies rooted in 19th and 20th century economic thinking applied to the 21st century knowledge and data-driven economy have resulted in a 25-year slide in our national productivity, record household, corporate and government debt and, according to the IMF, a decade of reduced GDP per capita, while the United States' GDP per capita soared by 35%.
Crises always clarify priorities. The COVID-19 crisis generates an ironic opportunity for Canada, because it induces structural changes normally spread over years into a few months. By harnessing their proven ambition and ingenuity, Canadian innovators can help the Canadian government build an innovative, sustainable, inclusive and resilient national economy, but only if our governments put the wind at their backs and strategically use smart policy measures.
Thank you.
View Sébastien Lemire Profile
BQ (QC)
That's very interesting. I'm sorry to interrupt, but I'd like to put some other questions, particularly to Mr. Balsillie, whom I consider to be a defender of our national autonomy. We need only think of hockey clubs.
BlackBerry has a very secure system, and I would have liked to ask him how he sees the current challenges with respect to the security of our data. However, I'm going to talk to him about the topic of the day, which is the economy and our security. What legislative and economic measures should we put in place to promote our self-sufficiency and autonomy?
Also, what would be the advantage of investing in our local innovation companies, rather than in foreign companies to have them come here to Canada?
Jim Balsillie
View Jim Balsillie Profile
Jim Balsillie
2020-05-25 14:48
I would draw your attention to figure number 3 of the appendix that I supplied to each one of you. The challenge for Canada is that we misunderstood, in the era of liberalization of tangible trade, that we also needed a hands-on approach for intangibles. We have a 20- to 25-year backlog of strategies that we need to take, not the least of which are investment review, regulation of data, protection of sovereignty, protection of culture and protection of the economy. There is a large list of things that we need to do. Digital policy infrastructure, I think, is the urgent priority for Canada.
If you look at figure number 2 in my appendix, you'll see that in Canada's economy, the proportion of intangibles has not grown in 20 years, while it has soared around the world. I tie those two things together, and they imperil our sovereignty and our prosperity.
View Tako Van Popta Profile
CPC (BC)
Thank you, Madam Chair.
My first question will be for Mr. Balsillie. Thank you for being here.
You made the point, Mr. Balsillie, that Canada's productivity measures have been lagging for the last 25 years compared with some of our trading partners, but you said, and I hope I'm quoting you correctly, “Crises always clarify priorities.”
I like that optimism, but given this historic lag of productivity, is it realistic to think that Canada, in a post-COVID relaunch of its economy, can actually be competitive in the innovative space?
Jim Balsillie
View Jim Balsillie Profile
Jim Balsillie
2020-05-25 15:22
We can, 100%. We just have outdated policy thinking.
The whole world, 25 years ago, approached productivity as a two-legged race. There was neo-liberalism for the tangible economy, where you got rid of friction and had free trade, and then for the intangible economy, based on restriction, they built a set of digital policy infrastructures. Canada thought it was a one-legged race and the rest of the world ran it as a two-legged race. All I'm suggesting is perhaps we invoke the second leg.
That's what I mean by updated thinking. We have lots of experts, but they're not used because the keepers of the policy orthodoxy don't think it matters. What's the old expression? “I've seen the enemy, and the enemy is us.”
View Tako Van Popta Profile
CPC (BC)
Thank you. That's a good answer.
Still about productivity lag in Canada, do you see a correlation between Canada's lagging productivity growth on the one hand, and on the other hand our inability to grow homegrown technology companies from start-up to scale-up? That comes from your website, the distinction between start-up and scale-up.
Jim Balsillie
View Jim Balsillie Profile
Jim Balsillie
2020-05-25 15:24
I do, 100%, yes. The ideas economy is based on the principle of restriction. It's an abstract construct. Ownership is based on what are called marketplace frameworks. You can only be successful in the ideas economy and to scale in a way that moves the dial if you have a full and complete digital policy infrastructure that's created in what you call a public-private framework.
The whole world went hands-on 20 years ago when we went hands-off. We will only scale up and we will only reverse this productivity once we understand how the game is played and get rid of these corrosive neo-liberal approaches for the purposes of the ideas economy.
Jim Balsillie
View Jim Balsillie Profile
Jim Balsillie
2020-05-25 15:40
My first recommendation was create an innovation core along the line of our tech talent radar portal whereby we make sure that these people find better jobs in Canada for the summertime that they're here, because the border may not open for eight or 12 months. We have an unusual opportunity to reverse the brain drain. It would be reversed temporarily, but we can actually make Canada a preferred destination.
In certain key computer science disciplines at the University of Waterloo, 90% of the graduates leave Canada for Silicon Valley. They can't leave now, so the top students are here. Let's have them build our country, make them our leaders, deploy them and make that our orientation.
That's what I mean by the sense of opportunity. How do we deploy them in a strategic fashion and make sure that we're building industries where they feel that they're building something exciting for the future, for themselves and for the nation?
Darren Dalgleish
View Darren Dalgleish Profile
Darren Dalgleish
2020-05-07 17:26
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Good afternoon, everybody. I'd like to thank the committee for the opportunity to speak to you today.
I'm joining you from Edmonton, Alberta, home of the Oilers, the Eskimos and Canada's largest living history museum, Fort Edmonton Park.
The overall tourism industry in Canada is worth $90 billion of economic activity and 1.7 million jobs. It's an enormous industry, with tentacles in every community.
My experience in the cultural tourism sector includes Ontario and Alberta, so my comments will apply to both provinces, but the challenges are generally uniform across the country.
Cultural tourism organizations such as museums have been fighting a steady decline in visitation over the years. Declining interest, the state of the economy and reduced government funding for cultural institutions have all of us on the edge of sustainability. Tourism attractions are under a strain as well, due to declining discretionary spending, and because the market can only absorb so many tourism offerings where the industry has filled the void from lost industrial and manufacturing activity.
I tell you this just to illustrate how fragile this sector was before this public health crisis. Some organizations, including the Fort Edmonton Management Company, started to focus on expanding their product mix to a more market-aligned portfolio. Why is this? Well, it supports the sustainability of the core product, and it helps preserve the social value that these organizations were created for.
Now, with this health crisis, tourism and cultural organizations find themselves in dire circumstances, because the very nature of tourism relies on visitation and volume. The disruption of travel has impeded our industry as well, and this issue will affect us well beyond the pandemic, because consumer behaviours are likely to linger.
Think about this for a moment. Cultural tourism is one of the only industries where there is no shipping cost or supply chain for your product. Rather, your customers come to you to get it. This was once a strong tailwind for our industry, and it has now become a crippling headwind.
Further, when people travel to our locations, they create an economic impact and multiplier that generates demands for many other businesses. This entire model is now drowning, and it needs to be reimagined so that maximum social and commercial values can be realized.
I remember SARS. Toronto was just a few hours away from our home in Kingston, Ontario. SARS devastated the tourism industry in Toronto, but something remarkable came of it. Prior to SARS, the idea that you would see competitors in hospitality, tourism, theatre, music and culture, etc., collaborating to attract people to their city was not well rooted in the industry. After SARS, the constraints in capacity utilization among these sectors demanded collaboration, and ultimately this collaboration and innovation became the epitome of what we now call destination tourism.
We learned from that, and we need the same approach today—a harmonious response and a clear focus on what's next, not when we can get back to normal.
How does the government's response support this? Wage subsidies and student emergency funding are important and help provide some interim relief, but that doesn't fully address the structural problem here.
Yes, of course, we need to take care of people. We need to support students so they can return to university or college and industry workers so they can support their families, but we should reserve some of this allocated funding to incentivize innovation, growth with new products and infrastructure that supports it, and productivity improvements.
We need to be holistic about what the government provides incentives for with these funds. Subsidies, grants and loans that provide a return to my typical business practice will not force innovation in this evolving market. We need more ROI-driven and market-driven initiatives incentivized.
I'm not sure how that looks, but it needs to drive innovation and growth. Constraints in business drive innovation. When constraints are removed, you go back to yesterday, so I would ask the government to be careful to not fully remove all of these boundaries. As with SARS in 2003 or the collapse of the automotive industry in 2008, business models changed out of necessity because they were constrained.
My question for my friends and colleagues is this: How do we look at this as a generational shift—for a segment of funding anyway—in how we support this industry? What does next-generation destination tourism look like?
We need to redefine our product and service offerings to address the new social and economic environment, because I fully expect these new consumer behaviours and expectations to remain well after the pandemic. We need to take care of employees, we need to take care of our guests and we need to take care of our bottom line. If any of these three legs fail, sustainability is simply dissolved. In short, we have to innovate.
The existing government programs to respond to this crisis in our sector are a great start. They will help position organizations to hit the ground running when we emerge from this crisis. But if I'm being completely honest, I'm less worried about when we'll hit the ground running than I am about how we'll hit the ground running. It's possible that we won't be running at all.
I very much appreciate the opportunity to speak with you today. I definitely acknowledge the immense challenge of supporting this very diverse industry. I thank you for that.
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