The minister of innovation, science and industry is also the minister responsible for Statistics Canada. By convention, the minister of innovation, science and industry also serves as the registrar general of Canada.
The economic development function of the portfolio can be traced from the office of the minister of trade and commerce, which was created in 1892. The post of minister of industry briefly existed, between 1963 and 1969, as a successor to the post of minister of defence production. It was merged with the trade and commerce portfolio in 1969. The post of minister of industry, trade and commerce existed between 1969 and 1983. During that time, separate posts of minister of regional economic expansion (1969 to 1983) and minister of regional industrial expansion (1983–1990) also existed. In 1990, the post of minister of industry, science and technology was created.
University funding was a problem for the government of Canada over the first three-quarters of the 20th century. In 1967 the passage of the Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act (FPFAA) replaced the policy of direct federal grants to the universities with a system of transfers to the provincial governments to support the operating costs of universities, which are a provincial responsibility under the 1867 British North America Act.[8]
Over the course of seven years, from 1970, the so-called Lamontagne Report on A Science Policy for Canada detailed the work of the Senate Special Committee on Science Policy.[8] Several avenues were investigated by the Canadian Cabinet, including the nomination of the Royal Society of Canada as the exclusive distributor of federal "governmental science and technology contract services" funds for post-secondary education, in a "national academy of science" type arrangement but this avenue was rejected because of the provincial responsibility factor.[9]
The present system grants directly to faculty members for research projects under such policies as the Canada Research Chair programme, and provides capital funds on a "shared-cost basis" for large infrastructure projects, such as buildings or laboratories. Fisher and Rubenson write that "both types of funding are disbursed by federal granting agencies [such as the Tri-Council bodies] on a competitive basis and awarded in accordance with federal criteria, which includes merit and national interests", observance of human rights and the general direction of state. "Furthermore, these policy decisions are set within a science and technology policy that emerged from competing definitions of science, utility, and the "public good". At the policy level, the interests of capital are privileged under the guise of serving the national interest."[8]
From 1993 to 1995, a single minister was styled as minister of industry while concurrently holding the posts of industry, science and technology, and of consumer and corporate affairs, pending a government restructuring. The post of minister of industry was formally created in 1995 under the direction of John Manley.
^ abRogers, W. Todd; McLean, Leslie D. (March 1987). "Promoting Federal Support for Educational Research in Canada". Educational Researcher. 16 (2): 10–15. doi:10.2307/1174532. JSTOR1174532.
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