Speech
October 28, 2009
Canadian Science Policy Conference
Minister of Research and Innovation John Milloy
Check against delivery.
INTRODUCTION
Thank you Dr. Hariri for that kind introduction.
I am really pleased to be here this evening.
The work that you will be doing over the next two days will help advance a consensus, and a vision, for a national science and innovation agenda.
And your timing couldn’t be better.
For starters, today is also the first day of the 2009 Gairdner Awards, which will conclude tomorrow evening.
Hundreds of Nobel laureates and past and present Gairdner Award recipients have converged on Toronto…
To celebrate research excellence – and pay tribute to its importance in improving our lives, and strengthening our economy.
It also comes at a critical time. Ontario… and Canada… are at a remarkable juncture in our economic history.
“Times, they are a changing…” The thinking and priorities of businesses and governments has needed to change as well.
ASKING QUESTIONS, SETTING PRIORITIES
In this room, and over the next two days, you will be asking yourselves questions about whether Canada has set the right priorities…
You will be discussing the benefits and the costs associated with establishing a bold national innovation agenda…
And hopefully, someone of you will ask “can we afford not to?”
Most importantly, you’ll be building a consensus on how we turn vision into reality.
Here in Ontario, we started asking ourselves these questions four years ago – so we like to think that we have a lot that we can add to this discussion.
Here’s the question we started with: What world – what sort of future – will we leave our children?
The fact is, the answer to that question, and our success in the new economy, depends more on brainpower than on manpower.
New knowledge and new ideas are what will give rise to the new companies and jobs…and the new industries that will shape or future.
ONTARIO: COMMITTED TO INNOVATION
And that’s why, in 2005, Premier McGuinty had the vision to create the first stand-alone Ministry in Canada, dedicated to innovation policy…
A Ministry to lead and focus our government’s commitment to innovation as the key driver of future wealth creation.
Today, research and innovation has become a key pillar of Ontario’s economic planning.
TURNING VISION INTO REALITY
It happened quickly, but it didn’t happen overnight.
It started with a vision, and leadership from the highest levels of our government.
In fact, the Premier appointed himself the first Minister of Research and Innovation.
Then we started to build a strategy. To do that, the Premier started asking more questions… like:
How can we go beyond instances of innovation… and beyond government simply investing in programs for innovation… to establishing a culture of innovation?
How can we turn global challenges like climate change… and the fight against diseases like cancer… into new jobs, a cleaner environment and better health care for Ontario families?
And then we posed these questions to smart, successful business owners, researchers and innovators across the province… people like you.
We consulted, with leaders in our business, research, and financial communities…
And we took our questions and our ideas on the road, and consulted with tax payers.
Here’s the consensus that we reached.
We acknowledged that in relative terms, Ontario is not a giant.
So if we are to compete and win globally, we must be focused on supporting investment, innovation and growth… in sectors where Ontario is already strong, where we punch above our weight…
Where we already are, or can be, a global leader.
TURNING CONSENSUS INTO ACTION
For four years now, we’ve been putting that consensus into action.
We did our homework… we created a strategic roadmap for our Ministry of Research and Innovation…
And then – perhaps most importantly -- we linked that roadmap to the Ontario budget and a resulting $3.2 billion dollar plan that invests in Ontario’s future…
We call it Ontario’s Innovation Agenda.
It’s supporting world-class scientists in Ontario universities, hospitals and research institutes...
And it’s helping our innovators turn new knowledge into new products for global markets.
Most importantly, it’s getting results.
But as Premier McGuinty always says, we can always do more and do it faster, when we are working together – and when the federal government is our partner.
OTHER PROVINCES: ON THE SAME PAGE
Ontario’s not alone in this commitment to science and innovation...
Our friends in other provinces and territories are moving in a similar direction, and we heard a lot about this last year…. when Ontario organized and hosted the very first Provincial-Territorial meeting on Innovation.
Provincial and Territorial ministers responsible for innovation accepted Ontario’s invitation to meet last year in Stratford…. to discuss how Canada can spark the next generation of globally competitive home-grown companies.
The goal of the meeting was to discuss ideas for creating a more effective national innovation strategy that fosters a new generation of jobs and prosperity.
It was a great success, but notably, it was a P/T meeting… not an F/P/T meeting.
Our hope is, and I am very optimistic, that our next meeting in November will be an F/P/T… and that federal government will accept our invitation to be at the table, to help move this dialogue forward...
Because there is already so much agreement and consensus among us, of the importance – and the urgency – to move forward on a coordinated, national innovation agenda.
A NATIONAL INNOVATION AGENDA – IT WILL TAKE EFFORT, BUT IT’S POSSIBLE
One thing is certain, and as Ontario’s Minister of Research and Innovation, I speak from experience:
It will take vision, it will take policy leadership… and it will take political leadership.
It will take a considerable amount of effort… But it is the right thing to do… and there has never been a better time to do it.
CONCLUSION
In closing ... I’d like to thank everyone here for coming together ... and I wish you great success.
I am very interested to learn about the outcomes of your discussions, and to take these with me to the next meeting of Innovation Ministers.
We are meeting again in a few weeks and will continue to look for ways to work together to create a truly national approach to supporting innovation.
From my perspective… and the perspective of our government…. your discussions today are just as much about the kind of future we want for Ontario, as the kind of future we want for Canada.
Thank you.
