December 10, 2001

One of our government’s most fundamental objectives is to create an environment of excellence in which all Canadians can take advantage of their talents, their skills and their ideas.

The key investments our government has made have greatly improved Canada’s research climate. And they have built a financial momentum that will see even greater support for research over the next several years.

Budget 2001 builds on this record of smart, focused and forward-looking investments by providing close to $1 billion over three years to promote leading-edge research and to sustain Canada’s innovative use of the Internet.

Connecting Canadians

Canada is one of the most connected nations in the world. We were the first country to connect all of its schools and libraries to the Internet. We have 100% satellite coverage of the country. And we have built the world’s fastest, all-optical Internet backbone to connect its major research universities and colleges: CA*net 3.

Budget 2001 builds on this record of achievement by renewing funding for CA*net 3 and investing $110 million to build CA*net 4, a new generation of Internet broadband network architecture that will link all research-intensive institutions, including many community colleges.

Our government is moving ahead with its plan to expand broadband Internet coverage in Canada. Although more planning is required, we expect that the best approach could very well be to expand our highly successful SchoolNet and Community Access Program to ensure broadband access.

Budget 2001 supports this plan by extending until 2003-04 the $40 million a year SchoolNet and Community Access Program initiatives. And by setting aside $35 million a year for three years thereafter to support further such broadband expansion.

The Government of Canada is the most connected government in the world to its citizens. Budget 2001 makes sure we stay ahead by investing $600 million over four years to implement the Government On-Line Strategy by 2005.

Promoting Research

Budget 2001 makes a number of targeted investments that will help Canada stay ahead of the international competition in leading-edge research. They include:

A one-time $200 million investment to help Canadian universities deal with the financial pressures associated with federally supported research activity. This will help support world-class research facilities and respond to the needs of Canada’s smaller universities.

A 7% increase in the annual budget of the granting councils, which represents $36.5 million a year for the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council and $9.5 million a year for the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.

A $25 million investment over five years to sustain and enhance the research program of the internationally-renowned Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIAR) – a non-profit corporation that supports networks of expert researchers who explore long-term scientific, social and economic issues of importance to Canada.

$110 million over three years to the National Research Council of Canada so that it can acquire leading-edge technologies and expand its regional innovation initiative.