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Just three years after the Conservatives made the National Research Council a business-first agency, the Conservative science critic is calling for a broader range of “basic” research.

And Marilyn Gladu says she and the ruling Liberals are co-operating along the way.

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Her remarks represent a U-turn for her party, which had said the NRC’s job was to help industry.

Gladu, the MP for Sarnia-Lambton, said in an interview that she and Science Minister Kirsty Duncan both want to balance the NRC’s applied industrial work with research in more theoretical areas often called basic, or fundamental, science.

“Actually, minister Duncan and I at the beginning of parliamentary session have said you know, we would rather collaborate with each other and come up with a science strategy that we think would be good for Canada, that we could sell on both sides of the House,” she said.

“So I have sat down with her and talked about what I envision for Canada. My background is as a chemical engineer and I’ve actually done fundamental research in my career.”