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Richard Cannings

Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
NDP

South Okanagan—West Kootenay
British Columbia
Voting Attendance: 61%
Expenses Last Quarter: $128,729.57

Government Page

Context: House Hansard - 304 - Apr/29/24

Apr/29/24 5:13:03 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I appreciate the member for Guelph's work as chair of the science and research committee. I hope this is the start of a new future for science and research. It is certainly a big step in that direction, where we actually recognize the very important work that not only young researchers do in Canada, but also scientific researchers in general. There was a considerable uplift in the amounts of the grants given to researchers across the country, and that will also help fund students. Canada is so far behind other countries in the OECD and in the G7. I had someone from the British High Commission come into my office a couple of weeks ago, and it was kind of embarrassing when I heard what the U.K. has been doing for research compared to what Canada has been doing. This is where we are going to form a really solid economy for the future. We have to make those investments in research and have to develop the information technology that will make this, and continue to make this, a great country.

185 words

Context: House Hansard - 279 - Feb/9/24

Mr. Richard Cannings (South Okanagan—West Kootenay, NDP)

Feb/9/24 1:20:28 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as my colleague across the way mentioned, this is a global situation where the vast majority of scientific research is now published in English. It has become the lingua franca of science in the world. There is very little we can do about that trend in Canada. However, what we can do is support francophone researchers in their work, so that Canadians who want to work in French can do their research in French and can apply for federal funding in French and get the support they need. One of the recommendations was to have an office within the scientific advisory for the government. Dr. Mona Nemer could have a francophone office under her that could really keep an eye on this situation, find ways to monitor the situation and find ways to make sure francophone researchers get their support.

142 words

Context: House Hansard - 197 - May/15/23

Mr. Richard Cannings

May/15/23 7:12:28 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am sure the government thinks it is doing the right thing for science and research, and it has made some investments in that regard over the past five years or so, but it is clearly missing an obvious investment here, an investment that would be relatively small in comparison to some of the other programs it has initiated, an investment that would have a huge payback, and that is to invest in our young researchers and graduate students. They have literally been forgotten for 20 years. That is the only way I can explain this. Many of these students are moving to other countries or dropping out of their studies altogether. We need them to keep working here to make sure our country is the innovation powerhouse it should be. We know what needs to be done. We need to pay them a fair wage. We know what needs to be done, so let us do it.

160 words

Context: House Hansard - 139 - Dec/1/22

Mr. Richard Cannings

Dec/1/22 6:52:54 p.m.
Watch

Madam Speaker, the fact is that, for almost 20 years, there has not been any new money for these scholarship programs I have been talking about. These are our best and brightest young researchers, and they are living in poverty. I appreciate that the government has increased spending in some aspects of science. It supports science. However, it needs to support these students. More and more of them are leaving Canada for the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and Australia. Many countries are providing better living conditions and studying environments than Canada. This brain drain costs our economy almost $1 billion a year, just in lost training dollar investments. The solution is simple: Increase the scholarship amounts and increase the number of scholarships. It would be a relatively small investment that would have an immense payback for our country and for the young researchers our future depends on.

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Member of Parliament

Richard Cannings