Mr. Speaker, our government is extremely proud of the world-class work that our scientists and researchers do. They help us achieve key social goals, such as improving public health, ensuring the safety of food and products, building strong and vibrant economies all across the nation and ensuring a clean and healthy environment for future generations.

Since the Prime Minister launched our country's science and technology strategy starting in 2007, we have made substantial investments to strengthen Canada's research advantage. In fact, since 2006, our government has provided more than $9 billion in new resources to support science, technology and the growth of innovative businesses. These investments have helped to attract and retain talent, support excellence in science, bring discoveries and innovation to the marketplace and build science and technology infrastructure.

Now I will point to recent successes.

Last fall, the National Research Council of Canada flew the world's first civilian jet powered 100% with biofuel. Last year, Canada's National Laboratory for Particle and Nuclear Physics played a role in supporting the discovery of the Higgs Boson subatomic particle. This year, Astronaut Chris Hadfield became the first Canadian to take command of the International Space Station.

These achievements have made headlines at home and around the world. They represent just a few of the many Canadian scientific accomplishments of which we can all be proud. However, we know that good science cannot exist in a vacuum. It must be effectively communicated and shared with Canadians and the greater scientific community, and we do this in many ways.

Each year, scientists at federal departments and agencies publish thousands of peer-reviewed articles, research reports and data sets. These materials are available to other scientists, Canadians and to the scientific community around the world. These findings are shared at scientific conferences at home and abroad.

Federal departments and agencies also participate in thousands of media interviews each year. Through our action plan of an open government, we have committed to engage Canadians through open information, open data and open dialogue. We recently launched the Government of Canada open data portal, which provides a one-stop shop for federal government data, making thousands of federal data sets freely available to the public. Open communication of science provides evidence on the results of Canadian federal investments.

Canada's world-class federal scientists and researchers have pushed forward the frontiers of knowledge and improved development for Canadians. Communication of their work plays a crucial role in achieving these goals.

Deepak Obhrai

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Adjournment Proceedings

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