Minister_of_Innovation,_Science_and_Industry

Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry

Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry

Canadian minister

The minister of innovation, science, and industry (French: ministre de l'innovation, des sciences et de l'industrie) is the minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet who is responsible for overseeing the economic development and corporate affairs department of the government of Canada; Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada.

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The minister of innovation, science and industry is also the minister responsible for Statistics Canada. By convention, the minister of innovation, science and industry also serves as the registrar general of Canada.

The current minister of innovation, science and industry is François-Philippe Champagne.

History

First century of Canada

The office of the registrar general of Canada has traditionally been associated with the responsibility of overseeing corporate affairs, by virtue of its function in registering all letters patent. From Confederation to 1966, the secretary of state for Canada was the registrar general. Between 1966 and 1995, the office was held by the minister of consumer and corporate affairs.

The National Research Council of Canada was established in 1916,[7] under the pressure of World War I, to advise the government on matters of science and industrial research. In 1932, laboratories were built on Sussex Drive in Ottawa.

The economic development function of the portfolio can be traced from the office of the minister of trade and commerce, which was created in 1892. The post of minister of industry briefly existed, between 1963 and 1969, as a successor to the post of minister of defence production. It was merged with the trade and commerce portfolio in 1969. The post of minister of industry, trade and commerce existed between 1969 and 1983. During that time, separate posts of minister of regional economic expansion (1969 to 1983) and minister of regional industrial expansion (1983–1990) also existed. In 1990, the post of minister of industry, science and technology was created.

University funding was a problem for the government of Canada over the first three-quarters of the 20th century. In 1967 the passage of the Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act (FPFAA) replaced the policy of direct federal grants to the universities with a system of transfers to the provincial governments to support the operating costs of universities, which are a provincial responsibility under the 1867 British North America Act.[8]

Over the course of seven years, from 1970, the so-called Lamontagne Report on A Science Policy for Canada detailed the work of the Senate Special Committee on Science Policy.[8] Several avenues were investigated by the Canadian Cabinet, including the nomination of the Royal Society of Canada as the exclusive distributor of federal "governmental science and technology contract services" funds for post-secondary education, in a "national academy of science" type arrangement but this avenue was rejected because of the provincial responsibility factor.[9]

1977 GOSA Act

In 1977 the funding of university research in Canada was formally separated from the NRC, under the Established Programs Financing Act[8] and the Government Organization (Scientific Activities) Act, 1976 (GOSA Act).[10][11][12] Several legally-distinct bodies were created to disburse federal government monies: the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the Canada Council, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, the National Research Council, the Defence Research Board, the Medical Research Council (latterly renamed to the Canadian Institutes of Health Research) and the National Library of Canada each nurture the related trade.[12] Of these bodies, the first, third, fourth, fifth and sixth report to the minister of innovation. The government provides subsidy (the major source of federal government funding to post-secondary research) and the scientists look after the details. The first, third and sixth bodies are sometimes collectively referred to as the "Tri-Council"[13] or "Tri-Agency".[14] The effect of the GOSA Act was dramatic, as reported by Rogers and McLean: "since 1979-80, federal support for self-initiated, non-contractual research in education has increased from C$126,000 to more than C$1.7 million" in 1986.[11]

The present system grants directly to faculty members for research projects under such policies as the Canada Research Chair programme, and provides capital funds on a "shared-cost basis" for large infrastructure projects, such as buildings or laboratories. Fisher and Rubenson write that "both types of funding are disbursed by federal granting agencies [such as the Tri-Council bodies] on a competitive basis and awarded in accordance with federal criteria, which includes merit and national interests", observance of human rights and the general direction of state. "Furthermore, these policy decisions are set within a science and technology policy that emerged from competing definitions of science, utility, and the "public good". At the policy level, the interests of capital are privileged under the guise of serving the national interest."[8]

From 1993 to 1995, a single minister was styled as minister of industry while concurrently holding the posts of industry, science and technology, and of consumer and corporate affairs, pending a government restructuring. The post of minister of industry was formally created in 1995 under the direction of John Manley.

Since 2000

On 4 November 2015 the office was renamed to its current name in the 29th Canadian Ministry of Justin Trudeau.[15]

List of ministers

Preceding offices

Economic development, industry, science

Corporate affairs

Ministers

Key
  Liberal Party of Canada
  Conservative Party of Canada
  Historical conservative parties: Progressive Conservative
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Critics

References

  1. [1]
    "The Canadian Parliamentary system – Our Procedure – House of Commons". www.ourcommons.ca. Retrieved 20 April 2020.
  2. [2]
    "Review of the Responsibilities and Accountabilities of Ministers and Senior Officials" (PDF).
  3. [3]
    "Constitutional Duties". The Governor General of Canada. Retrieved 20 April 2020.
  4. [4]
    "House of Commons Procedure and Practice – 1. Parliamentary Institutions – Canadian Parliamentary Institutions". www.ourcommons.ca. Retrieved 20 April 2020.
  5. [5]
    "Twenty-Sixth Ministry - the Ministries - Guide to Canadian Ministries since Confederation - Privy Council Office". Archived from the original on 5 March 2012. Retrieved 15 July 2013.
  6. [6]
    "Indemnities, Salaries and Allowances". Library of Parliament. 11 April 2018. Archived from the original on 1 June 2017. Retrieved 21 September 2017.
  7. [7]
    "History". National Research Council of Canada. 4 March 2019. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
  8. [8]
    Fisher, Donald; Rubenson, Kjell; al, et (2006). Canadian Federal Policy and Postsecondary Education (PDF). Vancouver: The Centre for Policy Studies in Higher Education and Training.
  9. [9]
    "Relations between the federal government and Canadian associations in Natural Sciences, Engineering, Social Sciences and Humanities". No. Archives, "Cabinet Conclusions" series. Government of Canada. Library and Archives Canada. 19 June 1975.
  10. [10]
    "LOI ACTION SCIENTIFIQUE GOUVERNEMENT (1976)". Government of Canada. TERMIUM Plus. 23 July 2022.
  11. [11]
    Rogers, W. Todd; McLean, Leslie D. (March 1987). "Promoting Federal Support for Educational Research in Canada". Educational Researcher. 16 (2): 10–15. doi:10.2307/1174532. JSTOR 1174532.
  12. [12]
    "Acts of the Parliament of Canada (30th Parliament, 2nd Session, Chapter 1-32), 1976-1977". Queen's Printer. Internet Archive. October 1977.
  13. [13]
    Government of Canada, Interagency Advisory Panel on Research Ethics (1 April 2019). "Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans – TCPS 2 (2018)". ethics.gc.ca. Retrieved 28 December 2021.
  14. [14]
    Government of Canada, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (18 December 2019). "NSERC - Inter-Agency, Tri-Agency Financial Administration". www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca. Retrieved 28 December 2021.
  15. [15]
    Morgan, Geoffrey (4 November 2015). "What happened to Industry Canada? Trudeau elevates scientific research in new cabinet role". Financial Post. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
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