Senator Kutcher: Senator Gold, thank you for that. The problem still remains that the funding success rates are abysmally low for Canadian researchers, and that is a huge problem.

Additionally, the Canada First Research Excellence Fund helped a number of world-class research centres in Canada to become established, yet none of these centres are now able to compete for federal funds to cover ongoing operating costs. Furthermore, there are no federal programs available for these centres to access, potentially causing them to close their doors after they’ve already demonstrated global excellence.

What plan does the Government of Canada have to ensure that these research centres, initially established under a Government of Canada program and that have already so clearly demonstrated global excellence, will continue to be properly supported so that Canada does not lose what it has already invested in?