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Scientific and technological activities of provincial governments and provincial research organizations, 2004/2005 to 2008/2009

This report includes scientific and technological (S&T) activities involving the generation, dissemination and application of new scientific and technological knowledge for the provincial governments of New Brunswick, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta. Scientific expenditures for British Columbia are based on last year's survey. The provincial government of Quebec conducts a survey of its R&D activities, the results of which it shares with Statistics Canada.

The main S&T activity is research and development (R&D). Related scientific activities (RSA) are also included.

Note to readers

Data were not collected for British Columbia however intentions for 2008/2009 were obtained last year during the collection of data for reference year 2007/2008.

Total S&T activity expenditures by the provincial government of Ontario in 2008/2009 stabilized from a $96.9 million extraordinary expenditure from the previous year (2007/2008).

Saskatchewan conducted a limited pilot of 7 ministries when collecting data for reference year 2007/2008. For 2008/2009 the survey included 15 ministries. This difference in survey coverage contributes to the year over year expenditure and personnel changes.

Statistics Canada received permission from respondents to the Provincial Research Organization Survey to publish their information by name to support analysis.

  1. The leading provinces for total R&D expenditures in 2008/2009 continued to be Ontario ($514.2 million), Quebec ($511.7 million) and Alberta ($407.3 million) (Table 3-1).
  2. In 2008/2009, total expenditures on scientific activities by the six participating provincial governments varied by socio-economic objectives. Overall the top three S&T expenditure objectives were, "protection and improvement of human health", "basic research" and "control and care of the environment". (Table 5)
  3. Of the participating provincial governments, Alberta had the largest S&T expenditure increase of $30.5 million from the previous year followed by Manitoba with $7.6 million and Quebec with $7.4 million. (Table 3-1)
  4. In 2008/2009, most provinces increased their intramural (in-house) S&T expenditures. However, the distribution of S&T expenditures varied by province. Intramural S&T expenditures predominated in New Brunswick (58%) and Manitoba (56%). (Table 3-2)
  5. Over the last five reference years, the provincial governments of Ontario and Quebec exhibited consistent growth in R&D spending based on constant dollars calculations.
  6. In 2008/2009 total expenditures of Provincial Research Organizations (PROs) on scientific activities reached approximately $99.5 million, a decrease of 11% from the previous year. This total decrease masked the fact that all PROs had an increase in S&T expenditures except Aurora Research Institute. Aurora Research Institute completed a large three year R&D contract in early 2009. (Table 14)