Grit MP Fry suggests misinformation led to PM’s quick rule-out of broadband tax
Liberal MP and Canadian Heritage Committee Chair Hedy Fry has suggested that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau didn’t fully understand what the committee was recommending when he shot down the idea of new taxes on broadband distribution. That recommendation—to expand an existing five per cent levy on TV service providers, which gets put toward producing Canadian […]
Is technological change a huge, dark cloud threatening to create a jobless society?
TORONTO—Is technological change—the digital world of robots, artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things—a huge dark cloud threatening to create a jobless society? Or at least an uneven world where a small percentage of highly paid, high-skilled workers and a similar percentage of low-paid, low-skill servant workers co-exist, with no need for a middle-skills world? Or […]
Research community awaits government response to science review
The federal government is expected to respond in the coming days to a report that called for a more-than $1-billion hike in scientific research spending, and it remains to be seen if stakeholders are pleased or disappointed with what they see. Ann-Marie Paquet, a spokeswoman for Science Minister Kirsty Duncan (Etobicoke North, Ont.), last week […]
Importance of IP agents to innovation ecosystem
Intellectual property is fundamental in the growth of innovative companies and the road from idea to commercial product includes the key step of protecting the IP inherent to innovation. But it doesn’t stop there. Companies that are successful at growing and scaling their businesses almost always have protections of their intellectual property that they can […]
Let’s drop the false distinctions between discovery versus applied science
Last week, for two days in Ottawa the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and Peru’s National Council of Science and Technology and Technological Innovation, in partnership with Canada’s International Development Research Centre, hosted the 6th Annual Meeting of the Global Research Council. The heads of 56 research funding agencies from 50 […]
Canada must move fast to preserve Last Ice Area
This World Oceans Day, June 8, brings into focus Canada’s often-overlooked third ocean, the one that borders our country at the top of the world. The Arctic Ocean, along with much of the North itself, has been undergoing rapid change due to the warming of the planet. Ice-dependent species are watching their habitat disappear with […]
Universities, industry, and research say substantial investments in research needed on regular basis
Post-secondary institutions and industry advocates are applauding the Trudeau government for rolling out millions in new funding for research since assuming office but say robust investments and other inducements are needed on a regular basis to ensure Canadian schools and businesses remain competitive on the global stage. In the 2016 budget, the Trudeau government earmarked […]
Liberals’ superclusters plan attracts interest from industry, skepticism from others
The Trudeau government’s $950-million plan to foster nodes of investment for burgeoning innovation fields is “rehashed corporate welfare” that will likely fail to generate promised returns, warns a government watchdog group. Aaron Wudrick, federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, called the scheme a “terrible idea” that would fall flat because of the inability of […]
Government committed to supporting Canadian students, advanced research: Duncan
An acclaimed academic and former professor, Science Minister Kirsty Duncan has been tasked with the monumental task of recasting Canadian scientific policy. In the first full year of Liberal rule, her office oversaw the assembly of an expert panel led by former University of Toronto president Dave Naylor to study basic science in Canada. In its […]
Let’s put the ‘super’ in ‘supercluster’
These are exciting times for research and innovation in Canada. With a continued emphasis on innovation as a key to job creation, new areas of focus were announced in Budget 2017. With the additional input of the Naylor report and feedback from stakeholders working to improve research and innovation in our country, there are clear […]
