The issue of user charges is contentious and has sparked a great deal of interest from Parliament, says Mr. Desautels. Parliament and the public deserve better explanations of user charges than they have received so far. Ability to Provide Innovations to Agriculture Sector at Risk Auditor General Denis Desautels report also expresses concern about AAFC s management of intellectual property. He says that without improvements, the agriculture industry might lose access to valuable discoveries. With rapid change in the marketplace, including advances in biotechnology, it is crucial that the department maintain its access to patents in order to keep the Canadian food industry internationally competitive.
Intellectual property is information that is useful and transferrable, and controlled by someone.
It includes inventions, some of which are controlled through patents. The Report notes that AAFC owns important intellectual property. The department also makes significant use of intellectual property owned by others in its research projects. The Auditor General says that there is a need for AAFC and its partners to answer fundamental questions about how and when it is going to protect its own intellectual property and in what situations it will acquire outside intellectual property. If the agriculture department does not obtain the rights to use technologies owned by the private sector, universities or other governments, Mr. Desautels says, it may have to alter, postpone or abandon current research initiatives.