Question Period Note: 2022-23 SUPPLEMENTARY ESTIMATES (B)

Why are the Innovation Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) portfolio organizations requesting $182.4 million in funding through Supplementary Estimates (B)?

• The Government of Canada takes fiscal responsibility and the stewardship of all public funds very seriously.

• The Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) portfolio organizations are requesting $182.4 million through the 2022-23 Supplementary Estimates (B) for key priorities, including investing in security, science and research, aerospace and clean technology.

• These investments will help foster a dynamic and growing economy that strengthens Canada’s research security, creates jobs and opportunities, and supports Canada's Strengthened Climate Plan.

Supplementary Estimates (B) were tabled in Parliament on November 17, 2022. They represent the second of three opportunities to access funding for this fiscal year. The first exercise was for urgent funding requirements. All other non-urgent organizational funding requirements were deferred to this second exercise. The Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) portfolio is requesting $182.4 million in these Estimates, including:

• $78.6 million in new funding to deliver Budget 2021 and 2022 initiatives and other federal decisions;
• $96.3 million of unused funding from 2021-22 reprofiled into 2022-23;
• $3.1 million resulting from transfers between organizations; and,
• $4.5 million in statutory adjustments related to contributions to employee benefit plans.

ISED – $61.6 million

New funding + $32.3 million

• $10.9 million to recapitalize the Strategic Innovation Fund’s Net Zero Accelerator initiative and core priorities
o New funding to support the continued implementation of the SIF NZA #2 (Budget 2021, $7.2 billion over six years and $511.4 million ongoing)
o This will enable SIF to promote innovation, accelerate Canada’s economic recovery following the COVID-19 pandemic, advance the transition to a low-carbon and green future and build capacity in the biomanufacturing and life sciences sector.

• $5.6 million to renew the Business + Higher Education Roundtable (BHER)
o Renewed funding to enable BHER to continue to create and scale work integrated learning opportunities (other federal decision, $17.1 million over 3 years).
o This will result in the creation of up of to 23,000 new students placements in Canada over the next 3 years.

• $4.5 million to launch Elevate IP
o New funding to help Business Accelerators and Incubators provide Canadians start-ups with expert intellectual property services (Budget 2021, $90 million over 4 years)
• $2.2 million to strengthen Canada’s semiconductor industry
o New funding from Budget 2022 ($5 million over 2 years to ISED) to support the Strengthening Canada's Semiconductor Industry initiative which will develop rigorous evidence to inform where and how Canada can position its semiconductor industry can become a vital part of the future global semiconductor value chain.

• $2.2 million for the Higher Education IP Commercialization
o New funding from Budget 2022. This is for a Stat Can survey to assess the government’s previous investments in science and research, and how knowledge created at post-secondary institutions generates commercial outcomes.
o These funds are flow through and will be transferred to Stats Can in Supplementary Estimates C.

• $1.3 million to renew the Digital Literacy Exchange Program (DLEP)
o Renewed funding. This program aims to teach fundamental digital literacy skills to Canadians who would benefit from participating in the digital economy (other federal decision - $17.6 million for three years)

• $1.3 million in reinvestment of royalties from intellectual property
o Since 1993 the department has the authority to access in the Supplementary Estimates the revenues from Licensing of Crown-Owned Intellectual Property collected in the previous year, in order to offset costs associated with incentive awards and other technology transfer activities.

• $1.2 million to renew the Connecting Families initiative 2.0
o The funding will support a renewed and expanded Connecting Families Initiative 2.0 to ensure that up to 220,000 low-income families and low-income seniors can access home internet with an improved service offering (other federal decision, $1.9 million over 5 years and $0.9 million annually).

• $1.1 million for the renewal of the Accessible Technology Development Program (ATP)
o Renewed funding for the continued delivery of the ATIP to co-funds innovative projects led by the private sector, not-for-profit organizations and research institutes to develop new assistive and adaptive digital devices and technologies (other federal decision, $5.8 million over 2 years).

• $0.9 million for for the Canadian Innovation and Investment Agency (CIIA) transition team
o Budget 2022 announced $1 billion over five years to establish the CIIA, of which, $2 million over two years was allocated to create a transition team comprised of officials from the Departments of Finance and ISED to facilitate the design, approval and the eventual launch of the CIIA, expected to occur in 2023.

• $0.3 million for 3 other programs:
o $168K to expand the use of Explore IP : Canada’s IP Marketplace (Budget 2022)
o $100K to implement the Federal Action Plan to Strengthen Internal Trade (Budget 2021) (horizontal)
o $50K to expand IP Legal Clinics Program (Budget 2022)

Reprofiles + $27 million

• $11.0 million to support CanCode;
o Reprofile from 2021-22 to align funding with anticipated spending of existing contributions agreements.
o The CanCode program supports initiatives providing educational opportunities for coding and digital skills development to Canadian youth from kindergarten to grade 12.

• $6.0 million for the Tourism Relief Fund
o Reprofile from 2021-22 for the National Priorities Stream.
o This will ensure the advancement of national tourism priorities aligns with Canada’s Federal Tourism Growth Strategy.

• $3.1 million for the Canada Digital Adoption Program
o Reprofile from 2021-22 for the advertising campaign of the Canada Digital Adoption Program to regularize spending across years, as a robust campaign continues to be required in 2022-23 and is expected to continue in future years

• $2.8 million for the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Development Program (SBEDP)
o Reprofile from 2021-22 to better align with cash flow requirements. Announced in Budget 2021, the SBEDP is designed to reach out to non-profit organizations to help SMEs across the country to develop and grow.

• $2.7 million for the 50-30 Challenge
o Reprofile from 2021-22 to align funding with recipient anticipated cash flows. The 50–30 Challenge is an initiative to help participating organizations advance diversity and inclusion in workplaces across Canada: Gender parity (50%) and under-represented groups (30%).

• $1.4 million for 3 other programs:
o $510K for the Black Entrepreneurship Program Knowledge Hub
o $450K for the Business Data Lab
o $429K for the National Artificial Intelligence Institute.

Transfers and others + $2.3 million

• net decrease of $1.3 million as a result of 11 transfers with other government departments, including $2.2 million from Infrastructure Canada to transfer the responsibility of rural economic development priorities to ISED; and,
• $3.6 million to adjust contributions to Employee Benefit Plans.

National Research Council Canada (NRC) – $57.1 million

New funding + $15.9 million

• $13.2 million for enhanced Canadian participation in the Square Kilometre Array Observatory (SKAO)
o SKAO is a partnership among over a dozen countries to build the world's largest radio telescope.
o The funding announced in December 2021 in the Economic and Fiscal Update will support Canada’s continued status as observer in the partnership and support the development and provision of advanced processing technology to this ground breaking endeavor.

• $2.4 million for advancing a circular economy for plastics in Canada (horizontal)
o Budget 2022 provided $202.3M over five year to seven federal organizations to reduce plastic waste and increase plastic circularity by developing and implementing regulatory measures and conducting scientific research to inform policy-making.

• $0.3 million for the implementation of a joint ISED and National Research Council Canada secretariat (Budget 2021)

Reprofiles + $38.3 million

• $22.5 million for the Vaccine & Therapeutics program
o Reprofile from 2021-22 for the Vaccine & Therapeutics program to continue working with partners to advance research and technology development for therapies and vaccines to treat and prevent COVID-19.

• $8.8 million for medical countermeasures
o Reprofile from 2021-22 for the Innovative Solutions Canada program to develop alternative that will enable Canada to adapt to and address negative environmental realities.

• $4.2 million for the IP Assist Program
o Reprofile from 2021-22 for the IP Assist Program to provide support to small or medium-sized Canadian businesses regarding intellectual property.

• $1.5 million reprofile for the Innovative Solutions Canada program;
• $1.3 million reprofile for the Technology Access Centres;

Transfers and others +$2.8 million

• net increase of $2.6 million as a result of 7 transfers with other government departments; and,
• $0.2 million to adjust contributions to Employee Benefit Plans.

Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) – $28.1 million

• $25.5 million for research security and the Research Support Fund (horizontal)
o for the federal granting agencies to increase the Research Support Fund and to strengthen Canada’s research security.
o Budget 2022 provided $132.4M over five years and $26.5M ongoing horizontally for a suite of research security measures to help protect federally funded research.

• $1.4 million to support Canada's Black students and postdoctoral fellows (Budget 2022);
• net increase of $1 million as a result of 9 transfers with other government departments; and,
• $0.2 million to adjust contributions to Employee Benefit Plans.

Statistics Canada (StatsCan) – $18.4 million

• $9.5 million for the Workload Migration Project
o Reprofile from 2021-22 to complete the transition of StatsCan's infrastructure to the cloud.
o Due to various factors, the original 2021-22 planned completion date was extended to March 2023.
• $3.6 million transfer from ISED and Natural Resources for the Clean Technology Data Strategy
o Statistics Canada provides macroeconomic indicators on the contribution of the clean technology sector to the Canadian economy.
o This will allow to continue the collection and dissemination of clean technology data, as well as improvements in data initiatives.
• $3.5 million for the Statistical Survey Operations Settlement
o Reprofile from 2021-22 under the settlement of the human rights complaint issued by the Public Service Alliance of Canada vs. Treasury Board and Statistical Survey Operations.

• $0.9 million for advancing a circular economy for plastics in Canada (Budget 2022).
• $0.5 million to implement the Federal Action Plan to Strengthen Internal Trade (Budget 2021); and,
• $0.4 million to adjust contributions to Employee Benefit Plans.

Canadian Space Agency (CSA) – $12.2 million

• $10.1 million for the Gateway External Robotics Interfaces
o Reprofile from 2021-22 to meet obligations related to the milestone payments under the planned firm fixed price contract between the Crown (PSPC on behalf of CSA) and the prime contractor for the GERI project (MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates).

• $5.6 million for the RADARSAT Constellation Mission
o Reprofile from 2021-22. The CSA has committed to redistribute any surplus RADASAT funds proportionally to the respective sources of funds. Thus, $5.6M will be transferred to DND through this Supplementary Estimate (B).

• $1.9 million reprofile for the Dextre Deployable Vision System.
• $0.5 million reprofile for the Quantum Encryption & Science Satellite; and,
• net decrease of $5.9 million as a result of 3 transfers with other government departments.

Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) – $4.9 million

• $1.4 million to support Canada's Black students and postdoctoral fellows (Budget 2022);
• $0.6 million for the research security and the Research Support Fund (Budget 2022);
• net increase of $2.8 million as a result of 5 transfers with other government departments; and,
• $0.1 million to adjust contributions to Employee Benefit Plans.

Standards Council of Canada (SCC) – $0.3 million

• $0.3 million transfer from ISED for additional support for the National Standards Fund for the 50-30 Challenge strategy.