SRSR Committee Report

Supplementary Report From a Member of the Bloc Québécois

The Bloc Québécois member of the Standing Committee of Science and Research would like to thank the staff of the Library of Parliament, the clerks, and the interpreters for all the work made during this study. He would also like to acknowledge the essential contribution of the witnesses for their enlightening presentations.

This supplementary report aims to highlight the fourth recommendation of this report, which restricts scientific freedom, and likely violates the areas of jurisdiction of Quebec.

“That the Government of Canada consider adopting enforcement measures to ensure that postsecondary institutions follow the National Security Guidelines for Research Partnerships and the Policy on Sensitive Technology Research and Affiliations of Concern to qualify for funding from the federal government.”

While the three federal granting agencies fund only about 10% of research in Canada, universities are responsible for finding the remaining 90%, funded by provinces, industry, private actors and foreign states.

Putting additional conditions on this financing, which is already difficult to access and therefore few, is not necessary, especially since it is the main lever of the federal government.

At this stage, it is also undesirable to see that the federal government could use funds as a weapon to enforce and adopt conduct, moreover, in the field of education, which is the exclusive responsibility of Quebec.

Therefore, it is preferable to withdraw this recommendation, and leave the implementation of such measures to the provinces and Quebec.