Minister Paradis and Minister of State Goodyear Promote Canadian Investment at BIO 2013

OTTAWA, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - April 21, 2013) - The Honourable Christian Paradis, Minister of Industry, and the Honourable Gary Goodyear, Minister of State (Science and Technology), will join the Canadian delegation to this year's BIO International Convention, taking place April 22 to 25 in Chicago, Illinois.

"Our government has worked hard to make Canada a great place to invest and do business," said Minister Paradis. "Our calling card is a sound economic framework with harmonized regulations, reduced red tape, a low debt-to-GDP ratio and the lowest overall tax rate on new business investment in the G7."

"Our government's actions demonstrate our commitment to the life sciences sector," added Minister of State Goodyear. "Economic Action Plan 2013 encourages business innovation by focusing resources on private sector needs through procurement opportunities, risk financing, and improved support for high-growth companies, research collaboration and applied research."

Key measures in Economic Action Plan 2013 include:

• $60 million over five years to help high-potential incubator and accelerator organizations in Canada expand their services to entrepreneurs;
• $100 million through the Business Development Bank of Canada for firms graduating from business accelerators;
• $121 million to strengthen the National Research Council of Canada's new strategic focus;
• $1.4 billion in tax relief, through the temporary accelerated capital cost allowance, for Canada's manufacturers to invest in machinery and equipment;
• an annual increase of $37 million for the federal research granting councils to support research partnerships between post-secondary institutions and industry to undertake discovery-oriented and applied research;
• $165 million for Genome Canada to fund multi-sector strategic research projects;
• $225 million for the Canadian Foundation for Innovation to support advanced research infrastructure priorities;
• $200 million over five years for the new Advanced Manufacturing Fund in Ontario for companies that are pursuing a competitive advantage through the development of transformative products and technologies; and
• funding to Mitacs Globalink, an industrial internship program offering students skills training.

These measures complement initiatives announced in Economic Action Plan 2012, which included $400 million to help increase private sector investments in early-stage risk capital and leveraged close to $1 billion from the private sector and $110 million per year to the National Research Council of Canada to double support to companies through the Industrial Research Assistance Program.

BIO is acknowledged as the world's largest biotechnology conference and trade show, attracting biotechnology and pharmaceutical executives, scientific leaders, political representatives, senior government officials and media from around the world.

Minister Paradis and Minister of State Goodyear will be promoting Canada's exceptional investment climate, world-class companies, and state-of-the-art research and development. Minister Paradis will also officially open the Canada Café Pavilion.