The Partnership Group for Science and Engineering (PAGSE; www.pagse.org) is a cooperative association of 26 national organizations in Science and Engineering. It was formed in June 1995 at the invitation of the Academy of Science of the Royal Society of Canada. The national organizations that comprise PAGSE represent approximately 50,000 individual members from industry, academia, and government sectors. They work collectively to represent the Canadian science and engineering community to the Government of Canada, and to advance research and innovation for the benefit of Canadians. PAGSE is not a lobby group. It does not seek an audience to advance the cause of specific science and engineering initiatives. Rather, its intent is to address the broader issues of science and engineering policy at the national level.

To be truly representative of the science and engineering community in Canada, PAGSE must ensure individual members of member societies and associations are aware of the activities that are undertaken in their name. While details may be found on the PAGSE website (www.pagse.org), PAGSE also provides this periodic summary of activities.

PAGSE Representatives

On July 1 2012, Martha Guy, Society of Canadian Limnologists, assumed the Chair of PAGSE.
A full list of PAGSE representatives can be found appended to this report and at www.pagse.org/en/links.htm.

PAGSE Membership

PAGSE welcomed a new society as a member this year: 
Canadian Rivers Institute

Bacon & Eggheads

PAGSE, in partnership with the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Canada (NSERC) and CANARIE Inc, sponsors a monthly breakfast meeting held on Parliament Hill, known as “Bacon and Eggheads”. Speakers at the meetings inform parliamentarians about recent advances in science and engineering. In 2012-13 PAGSE organized the presentations listed below. 
 
Cities in the Sun: The Path Towards Smart Net-zero Energy Solar Buildings and Communities
Andreas Athienitis, Concordia University
Thursday September 27, 2012

Towards a More Sustainable and Diversified Aquaculture
Thierry Chopin, University of New Brunswick
Thursday October 25, 2012

Human Genomics and New Models for Drug Discovery
Aled Edwards, University of Toronto
Thursday November 22, 2012

Putting Humpty together again: rebuilding peatlands after resource extraction
Line Rochefort, Université Laval
Thursday February 7, 2013

Cybersecurity: smartphones, software, the Internet and you
Paul C. Van Oorschot, Carleton University
Thursday March 7, 2013

Reducing Risks, Gaining Benefits – Coping with Weird Weather in a Changing Climate
Gordon McBean, Western University
Thursday April 18, 2013

Canada dry? Managing our water for the future
Howard Wheater, University of Saskatchewan
Thursday May 23, 2013

SciencePages

SciencePages is an initiative undertaken by the Partnership Group for Science and Engineering (PAGSE) in co-operation with the Science Media Centre of Canada (SMCC) and provided free of charge to all people interested in scientific topics. The publication is written by a team of interns and reviewed by a multi-disciplinary panel. SciencePages continues to provide brief, evidence-based assessments of topical science and engineering topics to Parliamentarians and the public. Issues on Genomics (November 2012), Wetlands (February 2013), Cyber security (March 2013), and the Arctic (April 2013) were launched at corresponding Bacon & Eggheads Breakfasts. Plans are underway for the release of several more issues of SciencePages in 2013.

Funding for this project is provided by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) and the federal S&T Community Secretariat. http://www.sciencepages.ca/index.html or http://www.sciencepages.ca/francais.html

PAGSE Monthly Meetings

Guests, representing science and engineering in the government and industry sectors, are invited to monthly PAGSE meetings to present their perspectives on science and engineering in Canada, on the activities of their organizations, as well as the potential issues and challenges that they would like to see PAGSE address. Members also consider federal activities and reports and how best to promote and sustain Canada’s scientific base. The meetings are held at the University of Ottawa. During the last year PAGSE has welcomed the following guests:

• September 20, 2012: Dr. Gilles Patry, President, Canada Foundation for Innovation
• October 30, 2012: Dr. Scott Findlay, Associate Professor and past Director of the Institute of the Environment at the University of Ottawa
• December 13, 2012: Business Meeting
• January 31, 2013: Jean Zu, President, Engineering Institute of Canada
• March 14, 2013: David Brook, Grand Challenges Canada
• May 2, 2013: Maude Barlow, National Chairperson, Council of Canadians
• June 13, 2013: Business meeting

Submissions to Parliamentary Committees

House of Commons Finance Committee
PAGSE submitted a brief to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance in August 2012. Canadians were invited to contribute their ideas online by responding to specific questions on which the Committee was focused on at the time. The PAGSE responses to the five questions are available on the PAGSE web-site http://www.pagse.org/en/briefs/sub2012e.htm.

For further information on activities, please visit the PAGSE website www.pagse.org