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Jessica Beauplat
The Canadian Press
This is what emerged from the speech on Wednesday by the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, François-Philippe Champagne, to members of the Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal (CCMM).
Its goal is to put in place “immediate strategic actions” in line with a long-term vision.
“We want to build the success of tomorrow,” he told those who attended the virtual talk.
Mr. Champagne said that it is this line of thinking that should guide investment choices for the years to come.
There would be “two existential threats” to the revival, according to him, or the pandemic with its economic and health impacts, as well as climate change.
The minister believes that the solution to these two problems lies in innovation and science, which is why the government intends to invest significant sums in them.
Invest in biofabrication
With regard to life sciences, we must in particular relaunch biofabrication and clinical research, he says.
Mr. Champagne recognizes that this will not be an easy task since it is to reverse a decline that has been underway for the past four decades, he explained.
Investing in biofabrication is one of the priorities, however, according to the minister, to create an engine for economic recovery.
He cited as an example the 173 million invested in the Quebec Medicago plant located in Sainte-Foy.
The pharmaceutical company recently obtained approval from Canadian and American authorities to begin recruiting candidates to begin phase 3 of clinical trials for its COVID-19 vaccine, the final stage of clinical trials.
Which would make it the first Canadian drug to fight the coronavirus.
“So in the medium term, we will have, I hope, a vaccine that could be manufactured at home,” said the minister.
This article was produced with financial assistance from the Facebook and The Canadian Press News Scholarships.
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