Preston Manning and Jack Mintz create public policy roadmap for R&D in Canada

CALGARY, March 8, 2012 /CNW/ - Two of Canada's leading minds in public policy have collaborated to produce a report on how to foster business innovation in Canada.

In a paper released today, Preston Manning, President & CEO of the Manning Centre for Building Democracy, and Jack Mintz, Director of The School of Public Policy, review the Expert Panel Report on Federal Support to Research and Development published last year.

The authors examine the Panel's six recommendations and find that while some of the ideas presented offer a step in the right direction - the need to consolidate spending programs for example - others have major deficiencies. Manning and Mintz argue that these ideas need refinement in order to get research and development in Canada on track.

Taxation is one area where the authors find shortcomings in the Panel's report. "While the Expert Panel nudges the system away from indirect tax support for small and medium-sized businesses, it fails to provide a braver and more comprehensive approach for reforming the direct and indirect support system for research and development," they write.

Reconsidering the appropriate level of support of federal and provincial research and development tax credits is a specific measure that Manning and Mintz recommend.

They also express their disappointment that the Panel did not offer an assessment on Labour-Sponsored Venture Capital tax credits and argue that these tax credits "have not been a successful means to support venture capital funding."

The study can be found online at www.policyschool.ucalgary.ca/publications.

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