While Thursday wasn’t Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s first visit to Waterloo Region, it was his first since being elected six months ago.
His government’s relatively young state may be why his focus Thursday seemed to be on touting what he hoped his government would be able to do in the future, rather than what it is already doing.
“We want Canada known as a centre of global innovation – a place where science, technology, creative and entrepreneurial citizens work to make a difference for our country,” Morneau said in addressing a crowd at Communitech.
Innovation seemed to be the key word of his visit, as he promised that the federal government would bring forward a “new and bold innovation agenda” over the next year.
His speech included few specifics of what that agenda would entail, but did reference $140 million set aside in the federal budget for science, research and innovation projects.
Morneau said that funding would focus primarily on improve government laboratories and other federal assets, but other funding sources would be used to do things like spend on research, and shift federal business support programs to focus on “firms with real ambition to grow.”
Before he spoke, the finance minister toured the Communitech space, where he talked to a number of tech sector workers and was able to try out some of their products for himself.
Later in the day, he stopped at the University of Waterloo to speak with students.
