Paul Dufour is a senior fellow at the Institute for Science, Society and Policy at the University of Ottawa. 

“If European nations have found it necessary to join their efforts in order to use S&T to maintain prosperity, it seems that our ten provinces, territories and a federal government must also see the need to join efforts. Why should Canada not be able to match the efforts of the best?”

– Frank Oberle, Minister of State for Science and Technology, 1986

Ever wonder why Canada has no national science, technology and innovation (STI) strategy given the current crises in our economy and ongoing geopolitical disruptions? Many countries and regions do. So what is holding the country back?

Leadership matters at all levels to be sure, but so does foresight, funding and follow-through. Well-articulated and joined-up voices for STI also are key, be it via national associations or strongly supported advisory structures.

Also, an engaged media in all of its aspects can be key to generate the necessary public interest and advocacy for the needed political efforts.

There have been many attempts at strengthening pan-Canadian science, technology and innovation since the early 1960s. But with the arrival of the Progressive Conservative Mulroney administration in 1984, a concerted effort began in national consultation on S&T involving all key sectors, especially the private sector. How did this come about?

The nation-building exercise was kicked off by the release in February 1985 of a working paper by the federal Minister of State for Science and Technology (MOSST), in part the result of a federal-provincial meeting of ministers responsible for S&T held in Calgary.

In addition to a series of statistical profiles of Canada's S&T performance, the report brought forward a discussion of four key themes (by now perennial): increasing private sector investment in innovation; accelerating the rate of diffusion of technology; redefining the role of government R&D; and recognizing the importance of academic R&D.

A major national forum sponsored by the federal government and hosted by the Science Council of Canada took place in Winnipeg in June 1986.

During his opening speech, the MOSST minister indicated that he was looking for views on how the $4.2-billion federal S&T envelope could be more effectively spent to forge better linkages between universities, research institutes, colleges, private sector firms, government labs and schools.

Indeed, the minister had earlier requested the Science Council of Canada to undertake an evaluation of the effectiveness of government funding of private sector R&D in Canada.

That report noted that government was underfunding private sector R&D compared with other countries, but more importantly warned that R&D was just one element of the overall innovation process, and that governments were not relating Canada's overall R&D policy within the context of a coherent set of sectoral strategies.

On March 4, 1987, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney delivered a major address on research and development at the University of Waterloo. The speech was an open challenge to the private sector to increase its R&D efforts, and to redouble efforts in transferring technology out of university and government labs into industry.

Mulroney closed with an appeal to all stakeholders to understand how Canada's technology can strengthen national sovereignty and territorial integrity. The National Advisory Board for Science and Technology chaired by the PM had also been announced earlier to give him guidance on key S&T policy issues.

On March 12, the National Science and Technology Policy was signed in Vancouver by the federal, provincial and territorial ministers responsible for science and technology. The policy (the first and last of its kind in Canadian history) outlined six objectives:

• improving industrial innovation and technology diffusion.
• developing strategic technologies.
• ensuring the necessary pool of highly qualified people.
• supporting basic and applied research and development.
• dealing with the impact of technological change in society.
• promoting a more science-oriented culture.

Council of Science and Technology Ministers established

To implement these objectives, a Council of Science and Technology Ministers was established and an action plan was developed to push forward each of the areas identified in the National Policy.

The federal response to this policy was InnovAction. Subtitled "a Canadian Strategy for Science and Technology," the five-track strategy put forward:

• $100 million in support of a federal microelectronics strategy.
• a new technology centres policy for the management of key federal labs, as well as external technology centres aimed at promoting technology
• funding for the Networks of Centres of Excellence.
• a Canada Scholarship Program for undergraduate students.
• new funding for an unsolicited proposals program for government procurement.
• increased funds for NRC's Industrial Research Assistance Program.
• an increment to the matching policy funding for university research.

Further, a Decision Framework for S&T in the government's management of S&T activities was announced. Prepared by the Ministry of State for Science and Technology at the request of the prime minister, the Decision Framework was designed to assist science-based departments and agencies to manage their S&T activities.

The framework was intended to help provide the basis for an annual overview of federal S&T strategic directions for Cabinet informed in part by the National Advisory Board for Science and Technology.

In November 1987, the Council of Science and Technology Ministers (CSTM) presented a discussion paper on Canada's Research and Development efforts to the First Ministers' Conference in Toronto.

The paper suggested a number of steps that First Ministers could take to improve the situation. Among these was that the concept of a national Network of Centres of Excellence should be given careful consideration, and that R&D priorities within industry be developed on an industry sector-by-sector basis.

The last meeting of the CSTM took place in 1992 in Ottawa. The discussions included matters such as improving access to Environment Canada's Green Plan, the Canadian Space Agency's future directions, and whether to form a national network on software engineering.

While other major policy exercises were also conducted during that period, the political momentum that was brought about by the pan-Canadian efforts to strengthen national S&T continued. Indeed, federal, provincial and territorial ministers responsible for research, science and technology met regularly.

At the penultimate Quebec City meeting of this group in 2001, the co-chair Brian Tobin, then federal Minister of Industry, and Pauline Marois, Québec's Minister for Research, Science and Technology, led the debate on how Canada could move its R&D expenditures to GDP ratio from  15^th to 5^th in the world by 2010.

Other issues were also addressed, including:

• the impact of the new Canada Foundation for Innovation on the provinces.
• a report from Québec's Conseil de la science et de la technologie on the status of nanotechnology.
• implementation of a national broadband strategy.
• provincial funding for Genome Canada`s regional centres.
• a major discussion on the issue of indirect costs of federally funded university research and commercialization of university research.

Ministers were also briefed on the proposal for developing a Canadian Academies of Science. Several principles for future interaction recognizing the differing jurisdictions, responsibilities and priorities within the federation were also debated. Finally, a commitment was made to develop a federal-provincial-territorial network for communication and information exchange on research, S&T and innovation. 

The federal-provincial-territorial exercises of the 1980s and early 1990s were instructive on how S&T can contribute prominently to economic and social development. They were also helpful in shaping a strong international image of a concerted Canada working in the national interest.

Today, if Canada is to compete with the best and truly become a hub for global knowledge and economic development, leadership in federal-provincial-territorial cooperation at the highest levels in science and technology surely matters.

As a first step, a future First Ministers conference could tackle the key elements needed to design a pan-Canadian strategy ensuring that leaders of our Indigenous knowledge communities and youth advocacy groups also be  consulted with outreach to key international partners. After all, our future is at stake.

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