Funding Announcement for the Collaborative Advancing Technology Innovation Through Discovery Program

Speaking Points

The Honourable Gary Goodyear, PC, MP
Minister of State (Science and Technology)

Ottawa, Ontario
February 22, 2011

Check Against Delivery

Thank you, Dr. Osmond, and good morning everyone.

It is a pleasure to be here with you at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO), an institution recognized for its kind and generous staff and, of course, its world-class research and state-of-the-art facilities.

Our country has a proud legacy of scientific achievement. From Sir Sandford Fleming, the "Father of Standard Time," to Abraham Gesner, who discovered kerosene, from John Hopps, who invented the pacemaker, to Frederick Banting and Charles Best, who discovered insulin, from Alexander Graham Bell's telephone to Mike Lazaridis's BlackBerry, Canadians have made discoveries and introduced products that have changed the lives of people around the world.

Our government recognizes how critical science is to improving the quality of life of Canadians and building a stronger economy.

As Prime Minister Stephen Harper said recently, "To remain at the forefront of the global economy, we must invest in the people and ideas that will produce tomorrow's breakthroughs."

It's why the Prime Minister launched our federal science and technology strategy almost four years ago. As part of the strategy, we made a commitment to attract, develop and retain the world's best scientific minds.

To back our goals, our government has made significant new investments in science and research in the last five federal budgets, and support for research has been a vital component of Canada's Economic Action Plan. Federal government spending on science and technology is expected to reach a record $11.7 billion this year.

I am also pleased to say that Canada leads the G7 in its support of higher education research and development as a percentage of gross domestic product.

I want to say to the researchers here today that your work will change the lives of Canadians and their families for the better. Our government is proud of your efforts and your contribution to knowledge.

This brings me to our announcement.

Today in Canada, by the time you and I go home for supper, four children will be diagnosed with cancer. Three of these children will live. One will not.

We've all come here today to fight for that fourth child and to make sure that her family gets a chance to see her grow up, that she has the opportunity to realize her full potential, that she can play, go to school, get a job, fall in love and, who knows, maybe someday even run for Parliament or become a scientist.

The challenge is great. There are some 10,000 children living with cancer in Canada right now. And almost 500,000 children in Canada suffer from a rare disease—a disease that most people have never heard of, that most doctors have never seen and that most drugs can't treat.

In the last few decades, science has made tremendous progress in helping many children who have rare diseases or cancer survive and thrive, but clearly there is more work to do.

These children deserve our help and they deserve our hope.

The still relatively new science of genomics offers some promise. In just over a decade, Canada has established itself as one of the leading nations in genomics research in the world.

That's why I am pleased to announce that the Government of Canada will establish two new research teams of top doctors and scientists from across Canada who will embark on the ambitious goal of identifying the genes that cause the most challenging types of cancer and rare diseases in children, which could lead to the discovery of new treatments.

Through Genome Canada, its affiliates and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, our government will invest $4.5 million in this promising new medical research, which will target the genetic causes of rare childhood diseases.

One of these research projects will be based right here at CHEO. The project is known as Finding of Rare Disease Genes in Canada—or FORGE Canada—and is being led by Dr. Kym Boycott.

The second project, the Canadian Pediatric Cancer Genome Consortium, led by Dr. Poul Sorensen, will use powerful new technologies to study the DNA of several of the most challenging childhood cancers, seeking to bring hope to the families affected and, perhaps some day, new treatments to the world.

The diagnosis of a serious disease in a child is difficult for any parent, but it can become even more challenging when the disease is rare, the knowledge base is small and the options for treatment are few.

That is why the work of FORGE Canada is so important. This project will bring together doctors from genetics centres across the country and connect them with the advanced resources of Genome Canada–funded Innovation Centres in Montréal, Toronto and Vancouver.

Canadian researchers are recognized internationally as being among the best at finding genes connected to disease. Now they will apply their expertise and the latest genomics technologies to study more than 70 childhood genetic disorders. This work will put Canada on the leading edge of gene discovery.

I would like to congratulate Genome Canada, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Genome British Columbia and Génome Québec for their innovative partnerships. And I would also like to extend my sincere appreciation to the outstanding scientists and researchers who will lead these exciting projects.

I am confident that your work will eventually lead to new and more effective treatments, will help expedite the translation of discovery into treatment and will make an enormous contribution to our community.

We need to act as if someone's life depended on this, because it does.

I wish you every success in this important work.

Thank you.