Electronic Bulletin No. 6 of the Canadian Geoscience Council
IN THIS ISSUE:
Canadian Participation on the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program
Sustainable Mineral Resources Development
3. Canada’s Innovation Strategy
4. The Geological Survey of British Columbia
5. The next meeting (108th) of the Canadian Geoscience Council
1. PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
It’s been a long winter, but Spring is just around the corner. Field programmes beckon, and many of us are looking forward to getting out there. While we enthuse about the opportunities to map the Earth, and understand it better, for various ends, we might also want to contemplate some of the issues facing us. The BC Geological Survey has been severely impacted by government cuts: a further review will be made public in the Fall. We must be more effective in getting across the messages about the return on government investment in geoscience. The federal government has issued a couple of papers on Canada’s Innovation Strategy: are we as individuals, institutions and members of a geoscience community aware of the opportunities the Strategy presents, and the possible implications of not exploiting them. The diligent will pursue their field programmes with the usual zest that communing with the Earth encourages: the wise will also ensure that we do not ignore the omens being presented by federal prophets. The community has work to do to ensure the intelligent application of geoscience to endeavours that Canadians want to pursue: CGC is there to help, but we need support and input from your member societies. Let’s hear from you!
Jeremy Hall
St. John’s, April 2002
2. UPCOMING WORKSHOPS
Canadian Participation on the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program
This next weekend, Saturday and Sunday, 13-14 April, in Toronto.
See programme at CGC web site: http://www.geoscience.ca/latestnews.html
Sustainable Mineral Resources Development
2-3 May 2002, in Vancouver.
See details at CGC web site: http://www.geoscience.ca/latestnews.html,
3. CANADA’S INNOVATION STRATEGY
The federal government has published two papers outlining its Innovation Strategy. Both are accessible through the following web site: http://www.innovationstrategy.gc.ca/cmb/innovation.nsf/pages/index
“Achieving Excellence: Investing in People, Knowledge and Opportunity” outlines the principal aims of the Strategy. Targets the year 2010 include moving up from 14th in the OECD to 5th in R&D relative to Gross Domestic Product. doubling the governments investment in R&D, ranking among world leaders in the share of private sector sales from new innovations, and raising venture capital investments per capita to prevailing US levels. The ambitions are significant, and the means to achieve them embrace many of the activities in which geoscientists are involved.
“Knowledge Matters: Skills and Learning fro Canadians” is focused on the provision of the highly-educated human resources that will be required to achieve excellence in innovation, and then maintain it.
There are likely to be strong incentives for those training geoscientists, for those commercializing innovations that target “sustainable energy, mining and forestry”, and for small and medium-sized enterprises to adopt and develop leading-edge innovations. It is incumbent on geoscientists in Canada, their employers and their professional and technical associations to deliberate on how best to take advantage of government’s will to push innovation in Canad to new levels. CGC will be discussing this with its members over the coming months.
4. THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
You may be aware that the newly elected government in British Columbia has made major cuts to public spending in order to meet its electoral promises of tax cuts. The cuts are being made in two main phases: one occurred in January, and the second is expected in the Fall of this year. The first phase has had a major impact on the BC Geological Survey, with several layoffs, retirals and (with the writing on the wall) resignations. A number of geoscience organisations, including CGC, are concerned that the best possible advice be offered in a constructive way to the BC government, over the summer, so that further actions would be taken with a full understanding of impacts. The focus of our approaches with other national and provincial colleagues will be on building a forward-looking dialog with the government based around the opportunities for government to stimulate investment in mineral exploration, and related resource activities.
5. THE NEXT MEETING (108TH) OF THE CANADIAN GEOSCIENCE COUNCIL
The 108th Meeting of the Canadian Geoscience Council will take place in Vancouver during 27-28 April 2002 in Vancouver. The agenda is available on the CGC web site (www.geoscience.ca). If you have issues that you think should be raised during the meeting that are not on the agenda, please contact your CGC member association.