John de la Mothe

Coordinate or Sink

By John de la Mothe

One thing we forget about Program Review is its call to coordinate policy horizontally. Silos are out. Science, technology, research and innovation policies cannot be looked at as stand-alones. They are part of the fabric of Canada's future. Necessary words, yet these principles have been barely heeded. With the election of George W Bush in the United States, however, it is time to take this directive very seriously.

If we don't, this won't be Canada's Century. Instead it'll mark the moment when Canada sank definitively into the abyss. Why? Because the Americans have aggressively focused their economic, security and trade futures on the South. Canada isn't on their map. In response, we must really give DFAIT minister John Manley every bit of assistance that we can. His goal of re-building relations with the US is right.

I won't belabour the point that our foreign policy lately has been disconnected from our policy priorities. But while we tried to adopt the role of global peacenik, the world economy moved on and in the process we've squandered our relationship with our most important trade, economic, environmental, security, cultural, and geo-strategic partner - and competitor - falling off their radar almost completely.

By espousing a southern focus, America has highlighted a number of Canadian challenges. These show us that good policy in today's world must be transparent and interdependent, and in every area research is central. Let's illustrate briefly.

After decades of geo-strategic exposure in Iran and elsewhere, the US is retracting and now sees its international interests as extensions of domestic policy. Thus, for example, it will use its energy policy to secure near-home reserves in Mexico. This will help its move into South American consumer markets. These nations are well populated, becoming increasingly stable both economically and politically, and are home to the world's share of bio-diversity (which is key to future developments in bio-pharmaceuticals).

US energy policy will also directly involve a natural gas pipeline, running much needed energy from Alaska through Canada's western provinces and territories into the US market. This will impinge on our national parks, and will likely involve a transversal of our first nation's territories.

As American foreign and energy policies get formalized and intertwined with their industrial policies, job opportunities will also expand. This will result in more offers to Canadian talent. To date however, debate over the brain drain in Canada has been sterile and disconnected from any other aspect of Canadian strategic interest except in the most general sense.

But as Canadian student reactions at Oxford University to Industry minister Brian Tobin revealed a few weeks ago, Canadians are world-class - so they will travel, study abroad, and stay abroad while still loving Canada. What we have to do is make Canada a desired re-destination for Canadians. 'Brain Circulation' should be our policy, but this will only happen if we have a palpable interdependent strategy. Long term 'Brain Drain' is real and will erode our research capacity. The American's strategy will exacerbate this unless we coordinate and take the world economy seriously.

In sum, US policy will involve research across the board and will demand a measured policy and research-centric response from Canada's industrial, energy, foreign, security, environmental, and cultural officials. Policy coordination is essential if Canada is going to maintain even a semblance of G7 status in a demanding knowledge-based world, and Minister Manley should take the lead. He led our policy reformulation regarding research and information. Now he has clearly focused on re-building our relations with the US. Let's help him, and hope his Cabinet colleagues get the message about policy coordination. The world is interdependent. Our policies should reflect this and not just squawky regional interests.

John de la Mothe is director of PRIME (Program for Research on Innovation Management and Economy) and a professor of science policy at the University of Ottawa.