The Government of Canada is the custodian of a broad range of infrastructure and is committed to maintaining and improving infrastructure across the country. Investments in critical infrastructure are a key element in the Government’s efforts to create jobs, growth and long-term prosperity.
On November 24, 2014, Prime Minster Stephen Harper announced $5.8 billion in investments to build and renew infrastructure across the country to ensure Canada’s future economic growth for years to come. The majority of this support will be delivered within the next three years. These funds will go toward modernizing and repairing various infrastructure assets that will, in turn, provide employment opportunities in communities across Canada and support services to Canadians, which will ultimately contribute to Canada’s long-term economic prosperity. Of this $5.8-billion investment, the Government of Canada has allocated $380 million for major repairs and upgrading of federal laboratories and research facilities across Canada. This will improve their ability to conduct leading-edge research and the protection of Canada’s natural environment.
In British Columbia, important investments will be made at two Natural Resources Canada federal research facilities:
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Pacific Forestry Centre, a premier federal research facility located in Victoria, British Columbia. The centre’s research supports the forestry sector by helping to develop Canada’s forest management policies and support sustained, healthy and diverse forest ecosystems.
Key areas of research at the Centre include: forest disturbances such as pest outbreaks and wildfires; carbon monitoring and accounting to determine how the forest sector can help mitigate the risks of climate change; developing national and international phytosanitary standards in order to reduce the transmission of diseases and pests; economic and market research to help Canada’s forest sector stay competitive; and developing cutting-edge tools and approaches to genomics, bioenergy, forest inventory and Earth observation. In addition, the Pacific Forestry Centre is home to Canada’s National Forest Inventory, which provides authoritative information on the health, productivity and status of our vast forests.
The Government of Canada has committed $5.6 million to upgrade the Pacific Forestry Centre. This money will be used to support several projects, including replacing the roof, installing energy-efficient lighting and heating, and upgrading the security systems and energy control systems.
GSC–Pacific, based in Sidney, British Columbia, is a Canadian centre for expertise in geohazards in both land- and marine-based environments, including earthquakes and submarine slope failures. Through the Public Safety Geoscience Program, staff at GSC–Pacific conduct research into earthquake processes and geodynamics that helps to improve our understanding of seismic hazards and global change. In addition, researchers at GSC–Pacific study marine geology, which includes analyses of the seafloor, active faults, sediment transport and other geological processes. GSC–Pacific is home to the Canadian Crustal Deformation Service and the western node of the Canadian Hazards Information Service, which monitor earthquakes and crustal response to them in Western Canada.
The Government of Canada has committed $500,000 to upgrade the GSC–Pacific. The focus of the infrastructure funding at this facility will be to upgrade and expand storage and archive space for rock samples and marine cores collected in the field and by research ships; these samples represent a significant investment in geoscience. The funding will also support a retrofit of sedimentary laboratories on-site, aiding in analyses of these valuable collections.
Alexandra Lemieux
Press Secretary
Office of Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources
613-996-2007
or
Media Relations
Natural Resources Canada
Ottawa
613-992-4447
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