Minister of Industry, Tony Clement, Launches $2 Billion Knowledge Infrastructure Program

March 24, 2009

HALIFAX, March , 2009 — The Honourable Tony Clement, Minister of Industry, this month launched the Knowledge Infrastructure Program, a two-year $2-billion measure to support infrastructure enhancement at post-secondary institutions, including universities and community colleges, across Canada. The program will promote employment and provide economic stimulus, and create jobs for engineers, architects, trades people and technicians. It will also generate the advanced technological infrastructure needed to keep Canada's research and educational facilities at the forefront of scientific advancement.

“This initiative to renew Canada's colleges and universities will provide significant short-term economic stimulus to communities across the country and will put many Canadians to work,” said Minister Clement. “Investing in leading-edge facilities will also enable these institutions to attract, train and retain the highly skilled researchers of the future.”
“The Government of Canada is investing in innovation to create jobs, help our economy recover quickly and improve the quality of life for Canadians,” said the Honourable Gary Goodyear, Minister of State (Science and Technology). “The renewal of college and university facilities will encourage more world-class researchers to work in Canada and give them the tools they need to make more discoveries that will benefit Canadians and people around the world.”

In order to ensure that Knowledge Infrastructure Program funding is delivered efficiently, Minister Clement and Minister of State Goodyear have written to the provincial and territorial governments, universities and community colleges to ask them to submit their post-secondary infrastructure priority projects. The first round of project submissions is due by March 31, 2009; these can be directed to the Government of Canada or through a provincial list for consideration. Projects could be announced as early as April 2009.

The Government of Canada will provide up to 50 percent of the eligible costs for selected projects, with the balance to come from provincial and territorial governments, the charitable sector, the private sector, or the post-secondary institutions themselves. In the case of federally run institutions, such as those accredited by a First Nations government, up to 100 percent of project funding may be provided by the Government of Canada.

Projects chosen to receive federal funding will be selected based on project readiness, including the ability to start work quickly on the project, the generation of economic activity and job creation, the project's enhancement of research capacity, and its ability to provide for a better educational experience for our next generation of researchers.

Canada's Economic Action Plan sets out to stimulate the Canadian economy over the next two years and to improve our long-term competitiveness through $12 billion in new infrastructure investment, which includes the $2-billion Knowledge Infrastructure Program. This new support is the next substantive investment in the Government of Canada's multi-year Science and Technology Strategy, Mobilizing Science and Technology to Canada's Advantage.

For more information about the Knowledge Infrastructure Program, including program criteria and application instructions, please visit www.ic.gc.ca/knowledge-infrastructure.