August 25, 2005 - Winnipeg, Manitoba
Genome Canada Funding Announcement
- The Honourable David L. Emerson, Minister of Industry -
Thank you, Dr. Godbout.
And thank you for inviting me to join you today.
It’s a pleasure to be here to announce funding for innovative R&D projects that will benefit Canadians from coast to coast and people around the world. Today marks the beginning of 33 exciting new genomics projects — projects led by Canadians, conducted in Canada, using Canadian talent and technology.
My congratulations to all of you.
Today’s announcement is of great importance. Not only because these projects will break new ground and open new doors, but because of the larger signal they send: that Canada intends to be at the forefront of genomics research – creating the knowledge, developing the products, seizing the opportunities and reaping the benefits of this exciting revolution.
As we continue to build a leading edge, knowledge-based economy, genomics will play an increasing role. As Dr. Godbout has said, genomics finds itself in an enviable position, at the intersection of science and economics.
He’s right. Genomics is an enabling technology, sweeping across traditional sectors, breaking down barriers between divergent disciplines and paving the way to breakthroughs that we are only just beginning to imagine.
I am proud that our government created Genome Canada in 2000 and proud of its accomplishments since then. We have established five world-class centres, overseeing 102 large-scale projects and platforms, with more than $560 million in funding — an amount that grows to $1.14 billion when matched by provincial, international and private sector funds. We have also created new science and technology platforms enabling our scientists to do world-class research, right here in Canada.
This work has been helped immeasurably by the partnership model that Genome Canada follows. The demands on federal tax dollars are immense, and justifiably so. Canadians want more spent on health care, on roads and other infrastructure, on the environment, on child care, and a host of other areas. But we also know the critical importance of the knowledge economy to our future economic well-being.
Without world-class research and scientists we will lag in innovation, and Canada would fall behind the rest of the world. The impact would be felt by ordinary Canadians, because new discoveries lead to wealth creation, and that produces the tax dollars that fund all the other programs we cherish.
The government realized in 2000 the importance of research such as that Genome Canada underwrites, but also that there would never be enough tax money available to fund all the research that needs to take place. The result was innovative itself — a funding model in which Genome Canada reaches out to the provinces, the international community and to some extent the private sector to essentially double the resources available.
The co-funding model has its critics. They like to leave the impression that somehow evil corporations are driving the research agenda, that our scientists are forced to spend all their time coming up with new forms of orange Jell-O to satisfy corporate masters. These critics are ill-informed, or perhaps they choose, for their own ends, to ignore the facts.
Only 22 percent of total federal research and development dollars are tied to co-funding arrangements. The vast majority of this co-funding comes from other levels of government and the international scientific community – in other words, from the public sector. Not from private companies. When it comes to Genome Canada specifically, only 11 percent of the funding comes from the private sector. Put another way, virtually nine out of every ten dollars Genome Canada spends comes from governments, federal, provincial, or foreign.
Our government is proud of this model and the way it has managed to stretch tax dollars for the betterment of all Canadians. We will not shirk from defending it or promoting it. It is a fundamental weapon in our drive to make the economy more innovative and competitive, to achieve world-best standards wherever we can and with whatever methods make sense.
You only have to look at Genome Canada’s record to see that today, a critical mass has been created — and critical momentum established. Canada is not only in the genomics game — in several key areas, such as forestry and fisheries, but we are leading the world. And as the scientists here today make clear, when it comes to genomics, our best is the world’s best.
So we are well on our way. But as Martin has pointed out, "we have only just begun."
The Government of Canada will continue to strengthen the research capacity of this country, because that is the way to secure our future.
We will continue to accelerate our ability to commercialize new discoveries — making the fruits of our research available for the benefit of our people.
And we will continue to pursue a global strategy of establishing world-class expertise within genomics, through vehicles such as Genome Canada.
Today, we mark another important milestone on that journey, with $167.2 million in research funding. The scientists here today — and those across the country who will spearhead other projects — are really pioneers in an uncharted land — only the territory they are exploring is not vast tracts of land or ocean, but the microscopic world inside the cells of every living organism on earth.
We do not know what wonders they will discover, what new continents of knowledge they will claim for Canada and for all humankind, but we do know that it is a journey worth taking.
Frank O’Connor, that great Irish writer, tells in one of his books how, as a young boy, when he and his friends would come to an orchard wall that seemed too high or too difficult to climb, they would take off their hats and throw them over the wall — and then they would have to follow them.
Well, Canada has thrown its hat over the wall of genomics and we will follow it. We have staked our claim to stand among the leaders in this new field and we will not turn back.
Congratulations again to Genome Canada and its funding partners and to the scientists and researchers whose work will now go forward, scaling new walls and opening up new possibilities for all of us.
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