the economy, create jobs and help Canadi- ans weather the global recession. As part of our consultations leading up to the budget, my colleagues in govern- ment and I heard from the presidents of many post-secondary institutions. Their number one request was that we address deferred maintenance on infrastructure of aging facilities that had been neglected by governments for many, many years. We listened and we acted. One of the important new measures our government put forward as part of our 2009 Economic Action Plan was a new $200 million initiative, called the Knowledge Infrastructure Program, to upgrade research and training facilities at Canada’s colleges and universities. Approximately 30 per cent of the funds under the program are going to support projects at colleges across Canada. As one of the ministers responsible for the program, and as a former chiro- practor and lecturer at the college, I wanted to make sure that CMCC was aware of the opportunity this program presented to them and encourage them to apply for funding. GOVERNMENT SUPPORT FOR CMCC Last month, I was very proud to return to the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic Col- lege and stand with my friend, president Jean Moss, to announce that our govern- ment is investing $350,000 to fund two projects at the college. Matching funding from other sources would bring the total commitment to almost $1.2 million. This investment will help CMCC build diagnostic and procedural simula- tion learning labs. As a result the college will become the fi rst chiropractic insti- tution in North America to implement modern methods for quantifying safe and effective quality of care skills. They will provide more than 710 students with the advanced training they need, as well as support the work of researchers and faculty. The second project will allow CMCC to improve the energy effi ciency of its facilities and create a safe, healthy and comfortable environment for its more than 1,000 students, patients, faculty and staff. It is expected that the college will be able to reduce its energy consumption by four to six per cent. These projects are important for im- proving patient care, and the health of Canadians, but also for stimulating the economy during a diffi cult time. Our government, under the leadership of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, believes that strengthening science and technol- ogy capacity is crucial for developing highly skilled people and improving our competitiveness as a nation. This announcement marks the first time the Government of Canada has rec- ognized the important contribution made by chiropractors – by supporting infra- structure at the college – and could rep- resent an important precedent for other world governments to follow with confi- dence. I was pleased to have the opportu- nity to support these important projects. In particular, I want to congratulate Dr. Jean Moss and her team at the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College for dem- onstrating the leadership to bring these projects forward and to help make them a reality. I also want to thank the chiroprac- tic community for continuing to support the college and our students, who will lead our profession into the future. • Techniques Tables.com www.canadianchiropractor.ca 1-866-618-2253 CANADIAN CHIROPRACTOR | JULY/AUGUST 2009 • 9
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