Podcast

The CFI's origin story

This is the origin story of the Canada Foundation for Innovation, an organization dedicated to the future, that was born at a time when the country was heavily burdened by its past

Two decades ago Canada’s federal government was struggling to contain a deficit that, in the words of one top finance official, was pulling the country towards "fiscal Armageddon." And yet, this was the moment when the government decided to make historic investments in research infrastructure. The creation of the Canada Foundation for Innovation was a game-changer for research in Canada. But how did it come to be?

The podcast tells this story through the eyes of Carmen Charette, Denis Gagnon and Robert Giroux, key players in the conception of the CFI. It is an insider’s look at how Canada jumped to the front of the line in research capacity.

Listen to "Our origin story," a podcast series in English that traces the CFI's unlikely origins.

This podcast is only available in French.