With key tax credit under microscope, biotech firms say it should stay, be improved
As the federal government starts reviewing a tax credit key to the biotechnology sector, some industry representatives say they’re happy with it but would like to see its eligibility expanded, whereas others think documentation standards are too high. The Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED, pronounced “shred”) program allows companies in Canada to get a […]
How government can spark venture capital for biotech success
As the government looks to shape its venture capital policy, biotechnology industry representatives say it’s important to minimize direct government intervention, instead letting the private sector decide what companies to invest in. The Venture Capital Catalyst Initiative (VCCI), as announced in the 2017 budget, is set to provide $400-million to help ease the way for […]
Government putting money where its mouth is on innovation: Bains
As the world celebrates Global Biotech Week, it’s high time for our companies and researchers to do something that most would consider rather un-Canadian: pat themselves on the back. After all, it’s Canada that has led the way in the global biotech industry for so many years with advances in areas like genomics, stem cell […]
Investments in discovery have never been more important to Canada
Recently, I joined Science Minister Kirsty Duncan for an announcement of a major investment in cutting-edge research and hundreds of post-graduate scholarships, both funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). What NSERC does best, year in and year out, is invest in ideas and talent for the benefit of Canada. […]
Liberals must prioritize growing research and development sector
As the Conservative shadow minister for science, I think it’s important to recognize that we have some of the best and brightest minds in research labs across Canada. To support our researchers, the federal government must continue to foster an environment where their ideas can be used to improve the lives of Canadians, and exported […]
Biotechnology
Supply management: Canada’s sacred cow no more?
KAMOURASKA, QUE.—In 1976, many commentators outside of Quebec attributed the victory of René Lévesque and the Parti Québécois to the leader’s charisma and the desire for independence. Within Quebec, some were astute enough to note traditional Liberal ridings in rural areas had swung significantly to the PQ. These ridings were not hotbeds of Quebec nationalism, […]
Help bring Canadian research into the marketplace
It is a Canadian economic truism that we have been the proverbial hewers of wood and drawers of water. For 150 years, we have largely relied on the extraordinary abundance of our natural resources to build our economy, but only to the extent that we export those resources in a raw form for others to […]
Women in business: let’s go beyond tokenism and the status quo
In 1996, my first formal speech on women in business described the “female model of leadership,” and here we are still debating the same topic in 2017. Canada was one of the first signatories to the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women in the early 1980s, and gender equality is […]
Globalization can be a force for good, if we make it so
Globalization is not the problem. How we have failed to manage it—including our failure to deal with inequality and improve opportunity for all—is the problem. The future of globalization depends on how well we can make it fairer and better. It’s hard to imagine a world in which trade does not occur, where ideas cease […]
