The new plan focuses on growing a competitive domestic sector and creating jobs, and will spend $2.2 billion over seven years, as committed in the federal budget, said Innovation Minister François-Philippe Champagne. (The Logic)

Talking point: The strategy will have five pillars, including strengthening research systems and the country’s talent pipeline, and using the Strategic Innovation Fund to continue supporting the sector. Champagne made the announcement at Vancouver’s Precision NanoSystems, which received $25.1 million from SIF in February to build a biomanufacturing centre in the city. The government believes the plan will improve the country’s preparedness for future pandemics after being behind when COVID-19 started to spread. “When the pandemic hit, our domestic capacity was so limited, as pharmaceutical companies have been leaving Canada, as we all know, for decades,” Champagne said at the event.