Government of Canada Releases Progress Report on Science and Technology Strategy

June 05, 2009

OTTAWA, June 5, 2009 — The Honourable Gary Goodyear, Minister of State (Science and Technology), was at Waterloo's Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics today to release Mobilizing Science and Technology to Canada's Advantage: Progress Report 2009. The report is the Government of Canada's update on the implementation of Canada's Science and Technology (S&T) Strategy, which was launched by Prime Minister Stephen Harper in May 2007.

“Science, technology and innovation are vital to stimulating productivity, competitiveness and growth,” said Minister of State Goodyear. “Since launching the S&T Strategy, we have invested aggressively in science, technology and research to help stimulate the economy, generate new jobs and create an improved quality of life for Canadians.”

The progress report outlines advances that have been made toward the S&T Strategy's key objectives of developing an entrepreneurial advantage that encourages firms to innovate; fostering a knowledge advantage that puts Canadians at the forefront of research and discovery; and creating a people advantage of the best-educated, most skilled and most flexible workforce.

In a related event, Steven Blaney, Member of Parliament for Lévis–Bellechasse, was in Québec to announce the release of the progress report.

“Since 2006, the government has committed more than $7 billion to S&T initiatives, through major, ongoing, multi-year investments,” said Mr. Blaney. “This progress report demonstrates our government's commitment to science, technology and innovation in stimulating productivity, competitiveness and growth.”

This year, through Canada's Economic Action Plan, the government is making one of the largest investments in S&T in Canada's history — more than $5.1 billion. Part of that involves funding research infrastructure projects at universities and colleges and support for the state-of-the-art equipment and laboratories required to conduct research.

For more information on the Government of Canada's S&T Strategy and to read the progress report, please visit www.ic.gc.ca/s&tstrategy.