Before Woodrow Wilson was elected President of the United States, he was a faculty member, and then the president, of Princeton University.
He is reported to have remarked that he left academia for government so he could get away from politics.
From what I hear, the politics at universities are pretty intense; so being in the company of distinguished academics like yourselves, I'm sure you can teach me a lot about politics.
Unfortunately, I'm not sure I can teach you anything about science.
It is important to take the time to recognize excellence. This evening, we are recognizing individuals who have made discoveries that have challenged the status quo and changed the world.
When James Arthur Gairdner created The Gairdner Foundation in 1957, he wanted to recognize and reward the achievements of medical researchers. Medical researchers whose work had made significant contributions to improving the quality of human life.
Tonight, we are in the presence of many Gairdner award winners from years past.
It is a pleasure to follow Paul Nurse on this stage. Dr. Nurse, who received a Gairdner award in 1992 and was subsequently honoured with a Nobel Prize, is a pioneer in the field of genetic and molecular biology methods.
While I can't claim to fully understand the science behind Dr. Nurse's work, I can very well understand its importance. For all of us who have had our lives, and the lives of loved ones, affected by cancer, we can understand the great value of discoveries that can lead to the opening of new principles for cancer therapy, discoveries that lead to new hope.
Thank you for inviting me; I am very much looking forward to the presentation of the next group of Gairdner award winners later this evening.
I am also very aware that I am the obstacle between the salad course and the dinner course, so I'm sure you will forgive me if I keep my remarks brief.
Countries that invest aggressively in innovation find solutions to environmental, health and other pressing challenges.
Countries that invest aggressively in innovation have the strongest and most productive economies in the world.
Simply put, countries that invest aggressively in innovation have high standards of living and high quality of life.
As Canada's Minister of Industry, I am very aware that, if we want to maintain a strong economy, we need to capitalize on scientific discovery and technological advances. By doing so, I believe we will be well positioned to seize the extraordinary potential of our great country to be a positive force in the world.
This is why on May 17, 2007, the Prime Minister released a national science and technology (S&T) strategy — and why last week's Speech from the Throne reiterated our government's commitment to science and technology.
One of the key areas of focus articulated in the S&T Strategy is the need to build what we have termed a “knowledge advantage.”
Canada is already well placed to build this advantage. Canada ranks number one in the G7, based on the share of our economic resources dedicated to higher education research and development (R&D).
Public investments by Canadian governments have built a strong system of universities and teaching hospitals. We have targeted our investments to build some of the most important research infrastructure in the world through our support of the Canada Foundation for Innovation and through the establishment of large-scale research centres such as the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory and Canadian Light Source Inc., a synchrotron research facility in Saskatchewan.
The Government of Canada supports research excellence through research grants and scholarships from our granting councils for peer-reviewed research ranging from basic research into fundamental biological processes to applied research that directly supports the development of new products for the marketplace.
We understand the importance of supporting the very best ideas wherever they arise, and we know that basic inquiry into the big questions at the heart of academic disciplines may not yield quick results, but it can yield crucial results down the line.
At the same time, we must be practical. We must target more of our basic and applied research in areas where we are well positioned to make a difference in the world.
In this respect, our S&T Strategy is clear: we will maintain Canada's G7 leadership in public R&D performance by making new investments in R&D and ensuring that higher education institutions have the best equipment and facilities to compete with the best in the world. This will result in increasing the impact of federal investments, creating better learning opportunities for students and fostering research excellence.
The challenge that we now face is to ensure that the work of researchers in our universities is translated into tangible benefits for Canadians. Our S&T Strategy is aimed at getting the conditions right, so that we can, as a country, get better at transforming discoveries into products, and turning knowledge into wealth.
But we know that, as important as it is to invest wisely in R&D, to achieve our vision of building a sustainable national competitive advantage based on science and technology, we need the talented, skilled and creative people who have dedicated their professional lives to the service of discovery.
Daniel J. Boorstin remarked in his book The Discoverers that the world is “a boundless stage for discoveries to come. The most important words ever written on the maps of human knowledge are terra incognita — unknown territory.”
Our celebration this evening is a chance, to borrow from Mr. Boorstin's quote, to celebrate the great discoverers who have made profound contributions to human knowledge. Those who have made discoveries for the benefit of us all.
It is also an opportunity to look forward to the unknown territory we still face — the terra incognita ahead. Tonight, across this country and around the world, thousands of young scientists are burning the midnight oil to finish their lab work, to double-check their results and to consider new ways of approaching problems that have challenged their teachers, their mentors, for years.
I'm sure the award winners here this evening reminisce fondly of evenings just like that.
These young scientists are driven by their passion and dedication to science. They are the Gairdner award winners of tomorrow.
I know we all wish them well on their journey.
Thank you.