Highlights from Budget 2018

February 27, 2018

On February 27, Finance Minister Bill Morneau tabled the 2018 federal budget. Below are some highlights of interest to the Canadian library and information management community:

Access to Information

Enhancing the capacity of the Office of the Information Commissioner to resolve complaints about the handling of public access to information requests ($2.9 million in 2018–19 to the Office of the Information Commissioner). This funding reinforces the Government’s commitment to openness and transparency concerning access to information.

Canada Summer Jobs

Canada Summer Jobs 2019–20

A summer job helps students pay for their education, and gives them the work experience they need to find and keep a full-time job after they graduate. Starting in Budget 2016, the Government supported an additional 35,000 summer jobs under the Youth Employment Strategy’s Canada Summer Jobs program. The Government proposes to provide an additional $448.5 million over five years, starting in 2018–19, to the Youth Employment Strategy. This funding will support the continued doubling of the number of job placements funded under the Canada Summer Jobs program in 2019-20 and provide additional resources for a modernized Youth Employment Strategy in the following years, building on the input of the Expert Panel on Youth Employment. A renewed Youth Employment Strategy will be announced over the course of the next year.

Data

Harnessing Big Data

Digital research infrastructure is the collection of connectivity, computing power and storage services needed to support data-intensive and computationally-intensive research. Big data has become an essential tool for progress in science, underpinning world-class research across all disciplines. Improved technologies, such as cloud computing and faster networking, allow for new opportunities to address scientific challenges. For example, medical researchers in genomics can use advanced research computing to analyze genetic sequences to look for DNA-related changes that might cause cancer or dementia. Eventually, researchers may be able to develop personal medical treatment plans for patients based on genetics, age and behavioural data, improving health outcomes. Improved access to essential digital research tools and services will strengthen Canada’s reputation as a global leader in science, research and innovation.

The Government proposes to provide $572.5 million over five years, with $52 million per year ongoing, to implement a Digital Research Infrastructure Strategy that will deliver more open and equitable access to advanced computing and big data resources to researchers across Canada. The Minister of Science will work with interested stakeholders, including provinces, territories and universities, to develop the strategy, including how to incorporate the roles currently played by the Canada Foundation for Innovation, Compute Canada and CANARIE, to provide for more streamlined access for Canadian researchers.

New Fiscal Relationship: Strengthening First Nations Institutions and Community Capacity

The Government recognizes that in order to advance reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples and facilitate greater self-determination—including self-government—a new fiscal relationship is needed.

The Government and the Assembly of First Nations have worked together to articulate a vision for a new fiscal relationship for First Nations communities. To better support First Nations communities, to support strong Indigenous institutions and to advance the new fiscal relationship with First Nations, Budget 2018 proposes to invest $188.6 million over five years, starting in 2018–19, in the following ways:

• $127.4 million over two years to directly support First Nations communities in building internal fiscal and administrative capacity. This includes $87.7 million over two years to ensure that communities under default management are able to move forward on projects that form part of their management action plans, and to support pilot projects in order to strengthen governance and community planning capacity in First Nations.
• $50 million over five years, and $11 million per year ongoing, to strengthen the First Nations Financial Management Board, the First Nations Finance Authority and the First Nations Tax Commission.
• $2.5 million over three years to support the First Nations Information Governance Centre’s design of a national data governance strategy and coordination of efforts to establish regional data governance centres.
• $8.7 million over two years to continue and broaden work with First Nations leadership, technical experts, researchers and community representatives on the new fiscal relationship.

The Government, with First Nations partners, will also undertake a comprehensive and collaborative review of current federal government programs and funding that support First Nations governance. The purpose of the review will be to ensure that these programs provide communities with sufficient resources to hire and retain the appropriate financial and administrative staff to support good governance, plan for the future and advance their vision of self-determination.

Strengthening Indigenous Data and Research Capability

Strong governance and good decision-making rely on timely access to high-quality, relevant data. The importance of Indigenous-led statistical capacity to serve this need is underscored by the First Nations principles of Ownership, Control, Access and Possession (OCAP®). To continue to support the development and management of Indigenous data, and to further develop data governance and information management capacity among Indigenous governments, communities and organizations, Budget 2018 proposes to provide $3.8 million over five years, starting in 2018–19, and $0.4 million per year ongoing, to Statistics Canada to create the Indigenous Statistical Capacity Development Initiative.

This initiative will enable the Government to undertake engagement and outreach with Indigenous Peoples and organizations to better understand their statistical, data governance and information management needs, and to provide technical support services such as statistical training, courses and tools grounded in the needs of First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples. It will help Indigenous leadership, communities and governments build their own data and research capacities, and provide greater support to Indigenous institutions and organizations.

In addition, Budget 2018 proposes to provide the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council with $3.8 million in 2018–19 to develop a strategic plan that identifies new ways of doing research with Indigenous communities, including strategies to grow the capacity of Indigenous communities to conduct research and partner with the broader research community.

Better, More Inclusive Data

The Government has recognized the need to take steps that target the collection, use and tracking of gender and diversity data in order to enrich our understanding of social, economic, political, financial and environmental issues. In response, Budget 2018 proposes to introduce a new Centre for Gender, Diversity and Inclusion Statistics, and an Indigenous Statistical Capacity Development Initiative, and to develop a broader set of tracking indicators and statistics. These measures will address gaps in the availability of data on gender, race and other intersecting identities to:

• Support evidence-based decision-making.
• Create more accessible and inclusive information for use by the public.
• Advance the level of statistical skills and engagement among Indigenous peoples.
• Collect, analyze and disseminate data on members of visible minorities to understand the barriers different groups face and how best to support them with evidence-based policy.
• Use the data to measure and track Canada’s progress on achieving shared growth and gender equality objectives.

In addition, to continue acquiring inclusive data on sex and gender in the future, Statistics Canada officials have been working with LGBTQ2 organizations on plans to adjust Census of Population questions and response options to better reflect how people identify themselves—for example, allowing respondents to answer in a non-binary fashion. This will enable the Government to accumulate more data that will better inform GBA+, and consequently enrich policy development, while simultaneously providing a modern census that is inclusive of all Canadians.

Digital Economy

Developing the Next Generation of Rural Broadband

The Government recognizes that access to the internet is more than just a convenience—it is an essential means by which citizens and businesses access information, offer services and create opportunities. To reach the most remote areas of Canada, new technological solutions will be required. One promising example is the use of low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites.

Networks of LEO satellites have the potential to provide Canadians living in rural and remote areas with significantly improved access to Internet and wireless services at more affordable prices. LEO satellites, situated closer to the surface of the Earth than traditional high orbit satellites, can receive and transmit data with significantly improved response times, speeding up data services, while maintaining the benefits of satellite technology, including the ability to provide Internet across challenging landscapes at much lower costs than fibre-optic technology. Canada is also uniquely placed with space satellite industry leaders to build and operate LEO satellite technologies, creating jobs and market opportunities around the world. Budget 2018 proposes funding of $100 million over five years for the Strategic Innovation Fund, with a particular focus on supporting projects that relate to LEO satellites and next generation rural broadband.

Digital Services

Enabling Digital Services to Canadians

To provide Canadians with important programs and services, federal government organizations depend on Shared Services Canada to provide modern and reliable information technology (IT) infrastructure and services.

To modernize/enhance the Government’s digital services, Budget 2018 proposes significant investments in Shared Services Canada and the Communications Security Establishment to ensure that these organizations are properly resourced to address evolving IT needs and opportunities, and proactively address cyber security threats. This includes:

• $2.2 billion over six years, starting in 2018–19, with $349.8 million per year thereafter, to improve the management and provision of IT services and infrastructure within the Government of Canada, and to support related cyber security measures.
• $110 million over six years, starting in 2018–19, to be accessed by Shared Services Canada’s partner departments and agencies to help them migrate their applications from older data centres into more secure modern data centres or cloud solutions.

A majority of the funding for these initiatives will be reallocated from federal organizations that receive mandatory services from Shared Services Canada. The ability of the Government’s IT systems to protect Canadians’ data and meet future demands will depend on a strong IT governance structure. To support this, the Government will redefine the role of the Government of Canada Chief Information Officer.

Diversity

Diversity in the Workforce

Providing high-quality and inclusive service goes hand in hand with ensuring that the Government’s organizational structure reflects all Canadians. In regard to IT governance, equality benefits are expected to accrue from the functional leadership role of the Government of Canada’s Chief Information Officer (CIO) in the Information Technology/Information Management (IT/IM) community across government. Specifically, the CIO would ensure the development and sustainability of the IT/IM community through talent management and community development strategies, one of which would be to promote opportunities for women in the Government’s IT workforce.

The IT measures being introduced in Budget 2018 also have the potential to improve representation of employment equity groups, including women and Indigenous Peoples, within the IT/IM community across government by building on ongoing initiatives within Shared Services Canada. These initiatives include the implementation of an Employment Equity Action Plan, the establishment of employment equity and diversity committees, and participation in interdepartmental working groups that seek to increase the representation of women in STEM.

Intellectual Property

A New Intellectual Property Strategy

For Canadian businesses to grow and create good, well-paying jobs, they need the ability to turn their new ideas into new goods and services that can compete in the marketplace. To give businesses the confidence they need to grow and take risks, a well-defined strategy that manages and protects intellectual property is needed.

Budget 2018 proposes measures in support of a new Intellectual Property Strategy to help Canadian entrepreneurs better understand and protect intellectual property, and get better access to shared intellectual property.

Budget 2018 proposes to invest $85.3 million over five years, starting in 2018–19, with $10 million per year ongoing, in support of the strategy. The Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development will bring forward the full details of the strategy in the coming months, including the following initiatives to increase the intellectual property literacy of Canadian entrepreneurs, and to reduce costs and create incentives for Canadian businesses to leverage their intellectual property:

• To better enable firms to access and share intellectual property, the Government proposes to provide $30 million in 2019–20 to pilot a Patent Collective. This collective will work with Canada’s entrepreneurs to pool patents, so that small and medium-sized firms have better access to the critical intellectual property they need to grow their businesses.
• To support the development of intellectual property expertise and legal advice for Canada’s innovation community, the Government proposes to provide $21.5 million over five years, starting in 2018–19, to Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada. This funding will improve access for Canadian entrepreneurs to intellectual property legal clinics at universities. It will also enable the creation of a team in the federal government to work with Canadian entrepreneurs to help them develop tailored strategies for using their intellectual property and expanding into international markets.
• To support strategic intellectual property tools that enable economic growth, Budget 2018 also proposes to provide $33.8 million over five years, starting in 2018–19, to Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, including $4.5 million for the creation of an intellectual property marketplace. This marketplace will be a one-stop, online listing of public sector-owned intellectual property available for licensing or sale to reduce transaction costs for businesses and researchers, and to improve Canadian entrepreneurs’ access to public sector-owned intellectual property.

The Government will also consider further measures, including through legislation, in support of the new intellectual property strategy.

Helping All Canadians Harness Intellectual Property

Intellectual property is one of our most valuable resources, and every Canadian business owner should understand how to protect and use it.

To better understand what groups of Canadians are benefiting the most from intellectual property, Budget 2018 proposes to provide Statistics Canada with $2 million over three years to conduct an intellectual property awareness and use survey. This survey will help identify how Canadians understand and use intellectual property, including groups that have traditionally been less likely to use intellectual property, such as women and Indigenous entrepreneurs. The results of the survey should help the Government better meet the needs of these groups through education and awareness initiatives.

The Canadian Intellectual Property Office will also increase the number of education and awareness initiatives that are delivered in partnership with business, intermediaries and academia to ensure Canadians better understand, integrate and take advantage of intellectual property when building their business strategies. This will include targeted initiatives to support underrepresented groups.

Finally, Budget 2018 also proposes to invest $1 million over five years to enable representatives of Canada’s Indigenous Peoples to participate in discussions at the World Intellectual Property Organization related to traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions, an important form of intellectual property.

Learning

Improving Access to the Canada Learning Bond

Education and training are the keys to finding and keeping good jobs. The Canada Learning Bond and Canada Education Savings Grant are contributions that the Government of Canada makes to Registered Education Savings Plans (RESPs) to help Canadians save for a child’s education after high school. Through these tools, the Government of Canada is helping to make education more affordable and accessible.

Building on Budget 2017 measures, the Government of Canada is working with the Province of Ontario to integrate RESP referrals into the Ontario online birth registration service. This means more children from low‑income families will be able to access the Canada Learning Bond.

Parents will be able to open an RESP at the same time as they apply for other services under the Ontario online birth registration service. Once an RESP is open, eligible children may begin to receive the Canada Learning Bond to help support future studies at a trade school, college or university, or in an apprenticeship program—without any contributions required by their parents or others.

Progress on Lifelong Learning

Canadians’ overall approach to learning has changed. At one time, Canadian workers could expect to train for a good, well-paying job and then keep a single job through to retirement. Today, workers and employers alike are challenged to keep pace with evolving technologies and rising competition. Canadians today must approach learning as a lifelong commitment, and the Government of Canada is working hard to support this.

The Government continues to make progress on its Budget 2017 commitments to enhance student aid for adult learners. It has expanded eligibility for Canada Student Grants and Loans for part-time students and for full- and part-time students with children, and introduced a three-year pilot project that will provide adults returning to school on a full-time basis after several years in the workforce with an additional $1,600 in grant funding per school year. The pilot will also make it easier for adult full-time students to qualify for grants given their drop in income while they are in school. Canadians will be able to benefit from these measures starting August 1, 2018.

The Government has also made it possible for more youth to gain work experience by doubling the number of placements under Canada Summer Jobs. This has resulted in nearly 70,000 students per year getting hands-on work experience through summer employment and generating income for their post-secondary education. In this way, the Government has supported more youth—many of whom would not otherwise have found equivalent work experience—save approximately one-third of their educational expenses for the following school year, and gain key skills needed for employability.

The Government has also made progress with provincial and territorial partners to promote and expand the use of Employment Insurance (EI) flexibilities to ensure that unemployed adults who pursue self-funded training are able to keep their El benefits. Together, these measures will help Canada’s workers to improve their skills and upgrade their credentials throughout their working lives, positioning them to benefit from and contribute to shared economic growth.

Libraries

A New Partnership Between Library and Archives Canada and the Ottawa Public Library

The Government also proposes to provide $73.3 million over six years, on a cash basis, starting in 2018–19, with $4.0 million per year ongoing, to support the construction and ongoing operations of a new joint facility that will house Library and Archives Canada and the Ottawa Public Library. This represents the Government’s share of the project, with the balance expected to be provided by the City of Ottawa. This new building will be an iconic community hub, a single door to the national library and archives, and a world-class public library in Canada’s capital city which will increase citizen participation in the community and improve access to Canada’s history, culture and collective knowledge. It is expected that the new building will be completed by 2023.

Media

Investing in Canadian Content

The Canada Media Fund is a non-profit organization that fosters, promotes, develops and finances the production of Canadian content for all audiovisual media platforms. The Canada Media Fund receives financial contributions from the Government and Canada’s cable, satellite and Internet protocol television distributors.

With Canadians increasingly watching content online, contributions from the broadcasting sector to the Canada Media Fund have started to decrease in step with their declining revenues. To address this issue, the Government has committed to increase its contribution in order to maintain the level of funding in the Canada Media Fund.

The Government proposes to provide $172 million over five years, starting in 2018–19, with $42.5 million per year ongoing, to maintain the level of funding in the Canada Media Fund at the 2016–17 level. While the actual Government contributions will fluctuate depending on the broadcasting sector revenues, this approach will provide a stable source of funding to develop Canadian content and support good jobs, including for our writers, producers, directors, actors and crews.

Supporting Local Journalism

As more and more people get their news online, and share their interests directly through social media, many communities have been left without local newspapers to tell their stories.

To ensure trusted, local perspectives as well as accountability in local communities, the Government proposes to provide $50 million over five years, starting in 2018–19, to one or more independent non-governmental organizations that will support local journalism in underserved communities. The organizations will have full responsibility to administer the funds, respecting the independence of the press.

Further, consistent with the advice laid out in the Public Policy Forum’s report on news in the digital age, over the next year the Government will be exploring new models that enable private giving and philanthropic support for trusted, professional, non-profit journalism and local news. This could include new ways for Canadian newspapers to innovate and be recognized to receive charitable status for not-for-profit provision of journalism, reflecting the public interest that they serve.

Research

Granting Councils

Canada’s three granting councils are arm’s-length organizations that provide federal funding for the work of researchers at post-secondary institutions and research hospitals. In Budget 2018, the Government is proposing a historic investment to support this work—the most new funding for fundamental research through the granting councils in Canadian history.

The Government proposes to invest $925 million over five years, starting in 2018–19, and $235 million per year ongoing:

• $354.7 million over five years ($90.1 million per year ongoing) to the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC).
• $354.7 million over five years ($90.1 million per year ongoing) to the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).
• $215.5 million over five years ($54.8 million per year ongoing) to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).

To accelerate Canada’s transition to a more modern approach to research, Budget 2018 also proposes to create a new tri-council fund to support research that is international, interdisciplinary, fast-breaking and higher-risk. The Government proposes to provide $275 million over five years, starting in 2018–19, and $65 million per year ongoing, for this innovative approach, which will be administered by SSHRC on behalf of the granting councils.

These two proposed investments would increase the granting councils’ annual budgets for fundamental research by over 25 per cent when they reach their peak in three years time. The proposed funding would provide increased support and training opportunities for about 21,000 researchers, students and high-quality personnel across Canada every year by 2021–22, including: 6,000 top-tier researchers and principal investigators; 3,500 early-career researchers; 8,000 undergraduate, master’s and doctoral students; 1,300 postdoctoral students; and 2,000 research assistants and technicians.

With this investment, the granting councils will be tasked with developing new plans, strategies and targets to ensure greater collaboration between NSERC, CIHR and SSHRC and support for interdisciplinary research, as well as plans to achieve greater diversity among research funding recipients, including improved support for women, underrepresented groups and early-career researchers. To support these goals, the Government proposes to provide $6 million over five years ($0.5 million ongoing) for surveys to collect improved data on researchers, and $15 million over five years to implement programs that support improved equality and diversity in academia at post-secondary institutions.

Canada Research Chairs

To attract and retain leading early-career researchers at post-secondary institutions across the country, Budget 2018 proposes a new investment of $210 million over five years, starting in 2018–19, with $50 million per year ongoing, for the Canada Research Chairs Program. The purpose of this investment will be to better support early-career researchers, while increasing diversity among nominated researchers, including increasing the number of women who are nominated for Canada Research Chairs. This funding will provide the flexibility to improve the program to meet researcher priorities, and could result in, for example, 250 additional Chairs for early-career researchers by 2020–21, and a sizeable increase in funding provided to early-career researchers. The Government expects the granting councils to target new funding to early-career researchers whose diversity better represents Canada’s population.

Over the next year, the Government will be doing further work to determine how to better support students, the next generation of researchers, through scholarships and fellowships.

Research Support

To ensure that researchers are provided with the necessary space and support at universities to undertake high-quality multidisciplinary research, the Government will increase the Research Support Fund. This Fund provides universities with resources to cover the indirect costs of research, including overhead costs such as those related to the maintenance of laboratories and other research space that are shared widely and therefore not covered through the granting council’s direct research funding. Budget 2018 proposes to provide $231.3 million over five years, starting in 2018–19, with $58.8 million per year ongoing, to SSHRC, which administers this program on behalf of the granting councils.

Investing in the Equipment Researchers Need—Canada Foundation for Innovation

The Canada Foundation for Innovation provides access to the state-of-the-art tools and facilities that researchers need to carry out the promising and innovative research that makes Canada a leader on the global stage. This includes the equipment and labs that are right now allowing Canadian researchers to make discoveries in areas like new composite materials for jets and cars, new diagnostic techniques for childhood diseases, and new methods for cracking the quantum computing challenge.

In order to do this important research, however, researchers need state‑of‑the‑art equipment and good places to do their work. Providing ongoing, stable funding to the Canada Foundation for Innovation will allow the Foundation to provide access to cutting-edge research tools for about 17,500 researchers and 27,000 students and post-doctoral fellows every year.

Budget 2018 proposes to provide the Canada Foundation for Innovation with $763 million over five years, starting in 2018–19, to provide the tools researchers need. This includes $160 million for increased support to Canada’s nationally important research facilities through the Foundation’s Major Science Initiatives Fund. The Government also proposes to establish permanent funding at an ongoing level of $462 million per year by 2023–24 for research tools and infrastructure supported through the Canada Foundation for Innovation.

Stronger and More Collaborative Federal Science

Federal government scientists enrich Canada’s research environment, contributing to research focused on the public interest as well as the kind of discovery science that breeds innovation. Federal scientists seek to advance environmental remediation, energy and materials science, advanced manufacturing, and health and food safety. Thousands of scientists and the network of federal laboratories—including at the National Research Council—reinforce Canada’s research capabilities and strengths, including through collaboration with post-secondary institutions and businesses.

Governments around the world leverage their own research assets and talent to help businesses undertake commercially relevant but high-risk research, which can in turn lead to successful global companies. The National Research Council has the facilities, expertise and networks to convene strategic, large-scale national teams committed to cutting-edge innovation. Budget 2018 announces a “re‑imagined” National Research Council and proposes to provide $540 million over five years, starting in 2018–19, and $108 million annually for measures that will reinforce its research strengths and role as a trusted collaboration partner of industry.

• To catalyze transformative, high-risk, high-reward research with the potential for game-changing scientific discoveries and technological breakthroughs, the Government proposes to provide $150 million over five years with $30 million per year ongoing, to the National Research Council to fund its scientists to work with innovators from post-secondary institutions and businesses on multi‑party research and development programs. This research will be modelled on the highly successful Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency in the United States.
• To encourage, test and validate transformative research ideas generated by the National Research Council’s world-class scientists, the Government proposes to provide $30 million over five years with $6 million per year ongoing, to the National Research Council to establish an ideation fund to target breakthrough research ideas through a competitive peer-reviewed process.
• To enhance collaboration with businesses and improve access to the National Research Council’s specialized facilities and equipment, scientists and technical services, the Government proposes to provide $62 million over five years with $12.4 million per year ongoing, to lower access fees charged to small and medium-sized enterprises and universities and colleges.
• To allow for better long‑term research planning and delivery, the Government will convert the National Research Council’s longstanding temporary funding into ongoing permanent funding by providing $298 million over five years and $59.6 million per year ongoing. Total funding proposed under Budget 2018 will raise the National Research Council’s total annual budget to $1.1 billion.

The National Research Council is only one of the Government’s science-based organizations. The Government has recently announced significant new funds in support of activities in other science-based federal departments and agencies.

The Government will also build on this renewal of federal science by launching the first phase of an ambitious plan to renew federal laboratories.

• Public Services and Procurement Canada will begin the process for the construction of multi‐purpose, collaborative, federal science and technology facilities. Rather than work in silos, this new approach to federal science and discovery will look to bring together federal scientists and science facilities across government including Agriculture and Agri‑Food Canada, Natural Resources Canada, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Environment and Climate Change Canada, the National Research Council and others in order to advance interdisciplinary research on, among other things, climate change, ocean protection, and human health. The Government proposes to provide $2.8 billion on a cash basis ($58 million on an accrual basis) over five years, starting in 2018–19, with $4.5 million per year ongoing. The new facilities will be built to achieve a net zero carbon footprint, and funding will support a new science infrastructure program management office to support the renewal of federal laboratories.
• Canada’s National Microbiology Laboratory, located in Winnipeg, is a world-leading facility that has helped advance critical work on infectious diseases, including helping to develop one of the world’s first vaccines to combat Ebola. To build on this expertise and deepen the cluster of expertise in infectious disease in Winnipeg, the Government proposes to provide $9.4 million over five years, starting in 2018–19, to establish a Centre for Innovation in Infectious Disease Diagnostics, funded from the Public Health Agency of Canada’s existing resource levels.
• To advance our knowledge of the Canadian Arctic, the Government proposes to provide $20.6 million over four years, starting in 2019–20 with $5.1 million per year ongoing, to POLAR Knowledge Canada. This funding will support the Canadian High Arctic Research Station (CHARS) campus and enable world-class cutting-edge research strengthening Canadian leadership in polar science and technology. In addition, the Government proposes to amend the Canadian High Arctic Research Station Act to support the transfer of the CHARS campus to POLAR Knowledge Canada.

These investments will be carried out in a way that is more coordinated and agile, creating greater opportunity for collaboration across government and within the wider research system.

In addition, to ensure the Government continues to have access to world-class, independent scientific assessments to inform policy development in priority areas, the Government proposes to provide the Council of Canadian Academies, a not-for-profit research organization, with renewed funding of $9 million over three years, starting in 2020–21.

Statistics Canada

Renewing and Modernizing Statistics Canada

The Government is committed to evidence-based decision-making to support economic growth. A whole‑of‑government approach to data will seek to improve how the federal government collects, uses and shares data. It will be supported by the expertise of a renewed and modernized Statistics Canada, while ensuring that Canadians’ privacy remains protected. As part of this approach, the Government proposes to provide $41 million over five years to Statistics Canada, starting in 2018–19, with $4.4 million per year ongoing, in support of the vision. The Government will also explore further options, including through legislation, to ensure Statistics Canada can respond to data needs of the 21^st century.

Beyond the modernization of the agency, it has become clear that the Government needs to fill gaps in knowledge for new and emerging cross-border services industries, such as content streaming services, which are becoming increasingly important to the Canadian economy. The Government proposes to provide $15.1 million over five years, starting in 2018–19, with $3.0 million per year ongoing, to Statistics Canada to address data gaps in international trade in services, including international trade in digital services and products. Better data will contribute to the Government’s commitment to produce high-quality information that is accessible and relevant to interested Canadians and will support its commitment to evidence-based policy-making. This is in addition to the $6.7 million over five years, outlined in Chapter 1, to create a new Centre for Gender, Diversity and Inclusion Statistics.

Statistics Canada has a mandate to conduct the Census of Population and Census of Agriculture every five years, both of which produce objective, high-quality statistical information that is vital to all levels of government, the private sector, academia and not-for-profit entities. Statistics Canada will conduct the next census in 2021, building on the successes of the 2016 Census of Population, which had the highest response in history to the long form component and set a world record for Internet response. The Government proposes to provide $767.3 million over 10 years, starting in 2018–19, to Statistics Canada to conduct the 2021 Census of Population. The Government also proposes to provide $49.4 million over six years, starting in 2018–19, to Statistics Canada to conduct the 2021 Census of Agriculture.