The unprecedented investments Canada has made and the initiatives it has taken in support of health research and innovation are poised to unleash the full potential of the Canadian research enterprise. We have all the ingredients to become a top-tier nation.
We need to ensure that we continue to develop a robust health research and health innovation ecosystem that will improve the health and wellbeing of all Canadians. To this end we ask that candidates advocate for the following:
Federal policy must recognize the interdependent and interconnected nature of the complete research and innovation enterprise. Its policymaking processes must evolve to reflect and support that ecosystem. A whole-of-government approach is essential to ensuring taxpayer-funded investments hit their targets.
Budget 2018 was a landmark reinvestment into Canadian research and innovation. But Canada remains significantly outpaced internationally and there is much more to do to catch up and lead. Canada must stay focused and continue to reinvest in the Tri-Council, support our next generation of scientists and fund the full costs of research.
We encourage government leaders and representatives to continue to promote research and innovation initiatives that address the needs and ambitions of those who have been historically underrepresented within and by it – Indigenous peoples, women, veterans and those of diverse abilities and gender, ethnic and cultural identities.
Canada must exhibit strong leadership and consistency with respect to its health and biosciences sector. It must create a regulatory regime that promotes rather than inhibits investment, understanding that such investment ultimately feeds back into the entire research and innovation ecosystem and creates a net benefit to patients, the health system, the knowledge workforce, and the social and economic wellbeing of all Canadians.
It’s a very exciting time to be part of the biopharmaceutical sector. The scientific innovation we are seeing, and helping to drive, is revolutionizing how certain diseases are diagnosed, treated and in some cases, cured. Precision medicine and breakthrough science including antibody-drug conjugates, immunotherapy and monoclonal antibodies are transforming how patients with chronic and fatal diseases are being treated around the world.
Canada continues to be without a nation-wide strategy to address the diabetes epidemic. The longer we delay implementing coordinated efforts with targeted outcomes, the more diabetes prevalence will increase and the more Canadians will experience its tragic complications. We urge all parties to support Diabetes 360˚ so Canada can be a world leader in the fight against this disease.
The member companies of Innovative Medicines Canada have a strong history of success in discovering, developing and delivering medicines and vaccines that Canadians need to live healthy and productive lives. We have, over time and as a country, prioritized innovative health research within the health care system, with the effect of creating an environment that allows our best and brightest to do their complex and important work. We want to work with all levels of government will continue to support life sciences research in Canada through effective and thoughtful public policy. This includes developing policies and programs that ensure Canadians have access to new medicines, when they need them.
As Canada’s leading mental health research centre, CAMH aims to revolutionize the understanding mental illness. Through research, and continued investment in research, we want to do for mental illness what others have done for epilepsy, heart disease and cancer. We want to help people see mental health for what it really is—health.
Evidence is the most powerful tool in advancing health care, and to spark change we must connect research and real-world impact. That’s why at CHÉOS, we produce the high-quality evidence needed to create better health outcomes for Canadians. We must continue to work together, asking the relevant questions to address current gaps in knowledge while training the next generation of health researchers to push innovation even further.
Federal investments in health research not only contribute to a healthy vibrant population, they are drivers of Canada’s economy, fueling innovation and commercialization from coast to coast. Today in Canada, we understand that a limited portion of all health research dollars are targeted towards advancing health outcomes for children and youth who may suffer from rare disease, pediatric cancers, neurodevelopmental disabilities, or childhood asthma. The Pediatric Chairs of Canada and Children’s Healthcare Canada believe that investments in children’s health and health research are urgently required to reverse alarming trends in the health and wellbeing of children and youth in Canada.
It is with great pleasure that Concordia University is participating in Research Canada’s Your Candidates, Your Health initiative. As a next-generation university committed to innovation and excellence in health research, we share Research Canada’s core values about the importance of promoting health research in all areas.
Roche continues to grow its footprint in Canada with the establishment of four global hubs at our Mississauga site. This expansion is a testament to our skilled and talented workforce and offers tremendous opportunity to solidify Canada’s reputation as a life sciences hub.
Canada is a nation of innovators. On a per capita basis, Canada boasts the fourth-largest science and technology workforce in the world—and nowhere is our heritage richer and our potential greater than in health research.
Research represents hope for everyone who ever has faced, or ever will face, the prospect of a major illness. Our objective at the Lady Davis Institute, which we share with Research Canada, is to advance science in order to improve the quality of life and outcomes for patients. Our researchers and clinicians work in a continuous feedback loop to translate knowledge from the bench to the bedside and back in furtherance of those objectives.
