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Chapter 2
Progress Achieved to Date

Creating the Economy of Tomorrow

Canada’s Economic Action Plan includes about $4 billion over two years for post-secondary education and research, technology and innovation, and environmental protection. These measures are helping to strengthen Canada’s world-leading research and advanced training facilities and to prepare young Canadians for the jobs of tomorrow. The Economic Action Plan also includes measures to create business opportunities in all parts of Canada and to enable small and medium-sized companies to grow and create jobs.

Table 2.4.1
Creating the Economy of Tomorrow

	2009–10	2010–11	Total
	(millions of dollars—cash basis)
Action to Invest in Post-Secondary Education and Research
Improving infrastructure at colleges and universities	991	996	1,987
Other	86	155	241
Subtotal—Action to Invest in Post-Secondary Education and Research	1,077	1,151	2,228
Investing in Science and Technology
Renewing federal laboratories	85	157	242
Clean energy and the environment	358	282	640
Other	30	733	763
Subtotal—Investing in Science and Technology	473	1,172	1,644
Total—Creating the Economy of Tomorrow	1,550	2,323	3,873
Total—With provincial contributions	2,541	3,486	6,027
Note: Totals may not add due to rounding. The stimulus value reflects projected cash expenditures. The budgetary impact may be somewhat smaller because some of these expenditures relate to construction and renovation costs of federal assets (for which only depreciation is recorded on a budgetary basis) and loans to third parties (where there is a budgetary impact only in the event that there is a risk of loss).

The Government is helping to build a strong, innovative economy through science, technology and research excellence, while training a new generation of highly skilled individuals. Canada needs this new wave of highly qualified workers to prosper in a global economy that depends more and more on knowledge and innovation.

The Government is committed to maintaining Canada’s global leadership position in post-secondary research. Funding has been provided to support research excellence at Canadian post-secondary institutions, help Canadian scientists focus on areas where we can be world leaders, and link our research strengths to the opportunities and challenges facing the private sector.

Canada’s Economic Action Plan invests approximately $5 billion in multi-year science and technology initiatives, an unprecedented investment which underlines the Government’s commitment to its science and technology strategy. These important investments will help position Canada for global excellence in research and development and lead to a more innovative and competitive economy. The Government is supporting state-of-the-art facilities that will help our post-secondary institutions remain at the leading edge, creating an outstanding environment for skills development to produce the highly qualified individuals that businesses require, and positioning Canada for global leadership in knowledge-intensive fields such as clean energy and space technologies.

Post-Secondary Education and Research

As post-secondary students return to classes this fall, they are seeing the positive effects of Canada’s Economic Action Plan on university and college campuses across the country. The Knowledge Infrastructure Program is providing $2 billion over two years for university and college infrastructure projects, including repair, maintenance and construction. Federal funding covers up to half of eligible project costs incurred by March 31, 2011, with other partners providing the balance.

Fifty-six projects have already been completed, and planning, design, construction and renovation work is underway on a further 421 projects at colleges and universities across Canada. These projects represent over $1.9 billion in Knowledge Infrastructure Program funding, accounting for over 95 per cent of the total program stimulus.

Through Budget 2009, the Government committed to provide the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) with additional funding of $750 million to accelerate investment in state-of-the-art research facilities and equipment. This funding represents an investment in the economy of tomorrow, as the research infrastructure supported by the CFI will underpin the creation of new knowledge and provide invaluable learning experiences for our best and brightest students.

The CFI has already committed $150 million of this funding to 28 exceptional projects through its 2009 competition, while $600 million will support the CFI’s future activities. Of this amount, the CFI has announced that over $200 million will be used to support current and new infrastructure that promotes leading-edge research, over $180 million will be directed to attracting and retaining the world’s best researchers, and more than $30 million will be earmarked for a new fund dedicated to supporting research equipment and facilities at colleges and polytechnics. These investments will promote research excellence while strengthening Canada’s long-term economic competitiveness.

Additional details on the allocation of the balance of the $600 million will be made available in the coming months.

Investing in Science and Technology

The Government has increased its direct support for science and technology through investments to modernize federal laboratories, improve broadband access, and spur research in clean energy and space technology.

Renewing Federal Laboratories: The Government has allocated almost $250 million to upgrade and modernize federal laboratories doing research in a wide array of fields, from health and food to natural resources, after several years in which maintenance had been delayed or deferred. Construction has begun or has been completed for nearly 100 per cent of identified projects at 14 federal departments and agencies. These projects are providing near-term stimulus in regions across Canada, and will result in improved science and technology capacity for Canada and contribute to better health and safety outcomes for Canadians.

Clean Energy and the Environment: Canada’s Economic Action Plan established the $1-billion Clean Energy Fund, including up to $150 million for clean energy research and development and $850 million for clean energy demonstration projects. The projects to be supported by the fund are expected to assist in increasing the deployment of renewable and clean energy technologies.

To date, federal funding totalling over $610 million has been announced for specific projects under the Clean Energy Fund. In addition, in response to unprecedented demand under the ecoENERGY Retrofit – Homes program, $205 million under the Clean Energy Fund has been allocated to finance up to 120,000 additional retrofits for Canadian homeowners.

Broadband: As part of Canada’s Economic Action Plan, $225 million was provided to Industry Canada over three years to develop and implement a strategy to extend broadband coverage to as many unserved and underserved households as possible. The biggest component of this strategy is the Broadband Canada: Connecting Rural Canadians program. To date, 77 projects have been conditionally approved under this program totalling $110 million, expected to extend broadband coverage to an estimated 222,000 households. Additional projects will be announced in the coming weeks. In addition, through the Community Access Program, the Government will provide $28 million to extend affordable access to the Internet to thousands of Canadians in places like schools, community centres and libraries.

Canadian Space Agency: The Economic Action Plan provided $110 million over three years to the Canadian Space Agency to support Canada’s continued leadership in the design and construction of space robotics. Of this amount, approximately $53 million will be spent in 2010–11 on the development of the Next Generation Canadarm and Exploration Surface Mobility projects. This funding supports new opportunities for innovative Canadian companies and provides jobs for highly skilled employees. This new support will also help prepare Canadian astronauts to participate in future international space missions, such as astronaut Chris Hadfield taking command of the International Space Station in 2012.

Canada Health Infoway: The Economic Action Plan provided $500 million to Canada Health Infoway to support the goal of having 50 per cent of Canadians with an electronic health record by 2010 and to speed up the implementation of electronic medical record systems for physicians. Canada Health Infoway works with the provinces and territories to determine when and how best to invest funding. The Government has moved forward with the transfer of the $500 million that was announced in Budget 2009. This $500-million investment will both enhance the safety, quality and efficiency of the health care system, and create thousands of sustainable, knowledge-based jobs throughout Canada. To date, Infoway has spent $7 million and has committed $340 million to support electronic medical record systems for physicians’ offices and to integrate points of service for hospitals, pharmacies, community care facilities and patients. Unspent funds from 2009–10 have been reallocated to 2010–11.

Table 2.4.2
Creating the Economy of Tomorrow

	2009–10	2010–11
	Dollars Spent	Stimulus Value	Stimulus Committed
	(millions of dollars)
Action to Invest in Post-Secondary Education and Research
Improving infrastructure at universities and colleges	991	996	996
Canada Foundation for Innovation	–	50	50
Institute for Quantum Computing	17	17	17
Arctic research infrastructure	32	52	52
Canadian Graduate Scholarships program	35	35	35
Industrial Research and Development Internship program	3	1	1
Investing in Science and Technology
Modernizing federal laboratories	85	157	157
Clean Energy Fund1	65	282	275
Canadian Environmental Sustainability Indicators	8	–	–
Strengthening Canada’s nuclear advantage	285	–	–
Canada’s space industry	10	53	39
Canada Health Infoway	–	500	500
Extending access to broadband in rural communities	20	180	123
Total—Creating the Economy of Tomorrow	1,550	2,323	2,245
1 $205 million in 2009–10 and 2010–11 funding (referred to in Budget 2009 under "Transformation to a Green Energy Economy") was allocated to the ecoENERGY Retrofit – Homes program to support an additional 120,000 home energy retrofits.

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