Remarks by the Deputy Prime Minister on supporting the next generation of researchers and innovators

May 30, 2024 - Halifax, Nova Scotia

Check against delivery

Thank you for that really, really kind introduction Andy. Thank you for all your hard work.

It is great to be here with you and it is great to be here with Lena and I do want to say to the people of Halifax, in addition to having a great city, you have some outstanding MPs, some outstanding representatives.

I know with Andy, with Lena, actually with the entire Nova Scotia caucus, for me resistance is futile.

If they think there is something that the federal government needs to be doing for this amazing city, for this amazing province, basically, what I just need to do is help them figure out how to get it done.

I also really want to say to the researchers who are here, the people who we’ve all had a chance to talk to and whose work we’ve had a chance to just have a little bit of insight into, thank you so much for your work. You are a true inspiration to me.

Andy just said, “Sometimes”—and I think he was talking about Halifax and maybe Nova Scotia—“we don’t know how great we are. We don’t know the great things that we are doing.”

I would say that more broadly for Canada.

We have such brilliant minds in our country who are working so hard with such ingenuity, coming up with great things.

And this morning was a wonderful chance for me to meet a few of our brilliant researchers and see the work they’re doing.

I’m going offer a shout-out to someone who’s not here with us, but whose story we’ve heard about. Her name is Emalie Hayes.

And Emalie is defending her doctorate in civil engineering, even as we speak. And her story was so exciting for me to hear because I feel connected to her and I think our whole country should feel connected to her.

This little bobble here, which looks either like a Christmas tree ornament or a kid’s toy, is apparently something that Emalie invented in the dark days of COVID using a 3-D printer in her basement, and many of these were thrown into the water here in Halifax.

Subsequently, they’ve been shipped around the world with stuff inside to use to test the wastewater for COVID.

And I think we all remember learning that wastewater could be an indicator to let us know how much COVID there was in a community.

Emalie figured out a way to measure that really effectively and it doesn’t look like it cost too much money, either. And to me that is so exciting because I remember those terrible days when we were so worried as a country.

I think as a country actually we did a pretty good job supporting each other, taking care of each other, keeping, especially, our seniors alive.

And scientists like Emalie and the team here really helped us to do that.

And it’s so exciting for me to actually see some of the tools that were used in that effort and to meet some of the people doing that intellectual work.

So, I just want to take a moment to say good luck, Emalie, I am really confident about your defence of your doctorate.

And I want to say to you and the team of researchers who are here with us: Thank you so much for everything you do.

So to help the next generation of talent get ahead, we are taking action. We’re ensuring fairness for every generation.

We are moving with purpose to build more homes, faster.

We are making life cost less.

And we are driving the kind of economic growth that will ensure every generation can reach their full potential.

Our country works best when our economy is growing and when more opportunities exist—for every generation.

To drive the kind of growth that will deliver prosperity for Canadians, the budget I tabled last month redoubles our efforts to increase investments and enhance productivity—and, by the way, some of the innovations we saw here developed in this lab are productivity-enhancing innovations which are helping the great people that Halifax brought us here be more productive.

And these investments are going to encourage game-changing innovation of the kind we see around us.

It’s going to create good-paying, truly meaningful jobs and keep Canada at the global scientific and economic vanguard.

These little balls which seem so modest have been sent to places, including Africa, to help them monitor their wastewater—they’re around the world.

We’re backing ground-breaking industries, ground-breaking ideas, ground-breaking research so that Canada remains on the cutting edge of the technologies of tomorrow, and the good jobs and the good lives that they will bring.

We’re working to empower more of our best researchers, entrepreneurs, and innovators to put their ideas to work here in Halifax, in Canada.

So, how are we doing that?

We are investing $5 billion in this budget in Canadian brainpower.

That is a huge investment and I’m really pleased we’re able to make it.

As part of this $5 billion investment, we are investing $825 million over five years to increase the annual value of post-graduate scholarships and fellowships.

So the scholarships and fellowships that the smart young people you see right here, the people in the lab coats and the glasses, the scholarships and fellowships, that’s for their work, and you know, we have just learned their work is literally life saving and life changing.

They make so little money right now. I am really, really glad that we’re able to support them a little bit more.

This investment is going to increase the number of research scholarships and fellowships provided, and it is going to help 1,720 more graduate students and fellows each year.

With this budget, we are also providing $1.8 billion over five years to support core research grants through federal granting councils like the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, known as NSERC.

This funding is going to help federal granting councils build on their excellent work to support researchers making ground-breaking discoveries in areas like artificial intelligence, health, and climate change—just like the remarkable water analysis, which saves lives, which is making our water treatment more productive, more efficient, more environmentally friendly, healthier for us.

That’s the kind of work people are doing here.

We are also investing $734.8 million for world-leading research infrastructure—like high-quality modern labs and facilities.

And talking to the researchers here, we can see how important having some of that high-quality, expensive equipment is.

These laboratories and research centres are where scientific breakthroughs are born, helping to resolve real-world problems and create the economic opportunities of the future.

Making sure Canada is equipped with world-leading research facilities will attract and train the next generation of scientific talent.

These investments will help incentivize our top talent to stay in Canada so that we can build a more competitive, innovative, and productive economy.

We’re also putting college and university within reach for more young people.

Because your parents’ income shouldn’t determine whether you can go to college or university, and when you graduate, you shouldn’t be burdened by unbearable student debt.

Last year, we permanently eliminated interest on Canada Student Loans. That saved the average Canadian student $610 a year.

And now, we are renewing our increase in up-front grants and loans for a half million low- and medium-income students. That’s a combined total of $7.3 billion in support for students this upcoming academic year.

We’re also raising the amount of financial aid available for student housing—an absolutely key issue in Halifax and in many university communities across the country. And we’re making it easier for working-age adults to return to school.

All of these investments are about building a prosperous future and creating good-paying jobs.

We must equip Canada’s innovators, researchers, and scientists with the tools they need to make breakthroughs, and to turn their ideas into reality.

This is essential to Canada’s economic future.

It is essential to fairness for every generation.

We are acting with purpose. Acting to make the investments that Canada and Canadians need because we know all Canadians, and especially younger Canadians, are counting on it.

And so, I want to say to younger Canadians, like many of the researchers who we see right here, you are so inspiring. Your work is really important.

We need to work hard to make it possible for you to build a good life with your hard work.

And I want to make a commitment to you that we will not leave you behind.

We want to be sure you reach your full potential, and you can have, you can afford a good life as you do that.

Because we need you.

Our country needs you.

And that is what is fair.

And that is what you deserve.

So, thank you, especially to the researchers we had a chance to meet. I was going to say they are our future, but they’re already our present.

I’m so grateful to them. I’m so inspired by them.

I hope all of us will be.