The Partnership Group for Science and Engineering (PAGSE; www.pagse.org) is a cooperative association of 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 almost 60,000 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.

PAGSE Members and Representatives

On January 1 2016, Maria DeRosa, Carleton University, assumed the role of Chair of PAGSE.

PAGSE welcomes a new member, the Canadian Association for Neuroscience.

A full list of PAGSE Member Organizations and representatives can be found appended to this report and at www.pagse.org/en/links.htm.

Bacon & Eggheads

PAGSE, in partnership with the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (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 2015-16 PAGSE organized the presentations listed below. Due to the federal election, no Bacon and Eggheads were held in September, October and November 2015.

Permafrost science heats up: understanding and preparing for change in northern landscapes
Chistopher Burn, Carleton University
Thursday February 4, 2016

Rethinking cyberattacks: New strategies to counter the mounting costs to business and threats to Canada's security
Scott Knight, Royal Military College of Canada
Thursday, March 10, 2016

Exploring a simulated brain: from human behaviour to drug effects
Chris Eliasmith, University of Waterloo
Thursday April 14, 2016

Keeping food available and affordable: a twenty-first century challenge
Jean Caron, Université Laval
Thursday May 12, 2016

Crude oil on water - an expert perspective on spills, their impacts and remediation
Kenneth Lee, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)
Thursday June 9, 2016

SciEng Pages (formerly SciencePages)
SciEng Pages is an initiative undertaken by the Partnership Group for Science and Engineering (PAGSE) to provide brief, evidence based assessments of topical science and engineering topics to Parliamentarians and the public. The publication is written by a team of interns and reviewed by a multi-disciplinary panel. An Intern was engaged in 2015 to prepare guidelines for producing SciEng Pages, a communications plan and a social media plan. Pending securing of financial resources, plans are underway for the release of more issues of SciEng Pages in 2016.

To view all the SciEng Pages publications please visit the SciEng Pages website. 

PAGSE Council Meetings

Guests, representing science and engineering in the government and industry sectors, are invited to PAGSE Council 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:

• October 6, 2015: Iris Almeida-Côté, Executive Director, The Royal Society of Canada
• February 3, 2016: Alain Beaudet, President and CEO, Canadian Institutes of Health Research
• June 1, 2016: PAGSE Council Business Meeting

Meetings with Other Organizations
Council of Canadian Academies
Maria DeRosa, Donna Boag / Eric Meslin, Anna Buczek
Engineering Institute of Canada
Maria DeRosa/EIC Council
Canadian Science Publishing
Maria DeRosa/ Mike Donaldson
Environment and Climate Change Canada
Maria DeRosa, Rees Kassen / Jon-Paul Jepp, Senior Policy Advisor, Adam Moscoe, Policy Advisor
Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada
Maria DeRosa, Rees Kassen, Jeremy Kerr/ John Burnett, Director of Policy, Minister of Science

Submissions to Parliamentary Committees

House of Commons Finance Committee
PAGSE submitted a brief to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance in August 2015. Due to the early federal election call, briefs were not accepted by the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance. The PAGSE brief was re-submitted to the House of Commons Standing Committee for the 2016 Pre-budget consultations (February 2016)

Summary of the 2016 Submission
Canadians understand that the economic, social and environmental health of the country depends crucially on science, technology and innovation (STI). Whether it is in the development of new diagnostic technologies in health, renewable energy technologies to heat and light our businesses and homes, or bringing a new product to market that will enhance prosperity and create jobs, STI touches every aspect of our daily lives.

With a relatively stable economy, high standard of living, and world-leading educational system, Canada has an outstanding opportunity to build on recent investments in our STI enterprise to become a global leader in the knowledge economy. We punch above our weight in terms of international science impact and play host to some of the world's leading researchers and research institutions. However, other countries and key trading partners, in particular the United States, Germany, and the UK, are investing proportionately more in science and reaping greater benefits. Canada can and must do more to become a global leader in STI. Key to achieving this goal will be creating an enduring and stable foundation for discovery-based research to generate the ideas that fuel innovation, building and renewing science infrastructure to accelerate productivity growth and resilience in northern communities, and making talented students and their ideas more mobile within Canada to facilitate knowledge sharing and innovation.

The Partnership Group for Science and Engineering (PAGSE) recommends that the Government:

• Increase investments in science and technology to match those in comparator countries.
• Build smart grid technologies in northern communities to improve resilience, sustainability, and lower energy costs.
• Establish Canada Opportunity Scholarships to enable graduate students to study at the best institutions.
• Provide tax credits for building and supporting new industry-partnered research laboratories across Canada.

The complete submission is available on the PAGSE website

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

PAGSE Members
Canadian Academy of Engineering (Representative: Kevin Goheen)
Canadian Aquatic Resources Section of the American Fisheries Society (Representative: Steven Cooke)
Canadian Association for Neuroscience (Representative: Katalin Toth)
Canadian Association of Physicists (Representative: Francine Ford)
Canadian Conference for Fisheries Research (Representative: Steve Cooke)
Canadian Federation of Earth Sciences (Representative: Chris Burn)
Canadian Geophysical Union (Representative: TBA)
Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society (Representative: Gordon Griffith)
Canadian Physiological Society (Representative: Eric Accili)
Canadian Quaternary Association (Representative: John P. Smol)
Canadian Rivers Institute (Representative: Karen Kidd)
Canadian Society of Microbiologists (Representative: Thien-Fah-Mah)
Canadian Society of Plant Biologists (Representative: Carl Douglas)
Canadian Society of Zoologists (Representatives: Jim Staples and Helga Guderley)
Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering (Representative: Roland Andersson)
Canadian Society for Chemical Technology (Representative: Roland Andersson)
Canadian Society for Chemistry (Representative: Roland Andersson)
Canadian Society for Ecology and Evolution (Representative: Jeremy Kerr)
Canadian Society for Molecular Biosciences (Representative: Kristin Baetz)
Chemical Institute of Canada (Representative: Roland Andersson)
Engineering Institute of Canada (Representative: Branislav Djokic)
IEEE Canada (Representative: Voicu Groza)
Society of Canadian Limnologists (Representative: Jérôme Marty)
Statistical Society of Canada (Representative: Agnes M. Herzberg)

Supporting Organizations
CANARIE Inc.
Coherent Advice
Engineers Canada
Genome Canada
Google Canada
Innovative Medicines Canada
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC)
Royal Society of Canada (RSC)
WWF Canada

Carleton University
Royal Military College of Canada
University of Waterloo
Université Laval