Editorial - 23-7

The federal government appears increasingly anxious to demonstrate its support of university research. In the past week, two high-profile events have been staged to announce the results of new research chairs programs unveiled in the Feb/08 Budget.

First was the Canada Excellence Research Chairs (CERC), even though it was a short list of candidates that was announced (see page 6). Today, the results of the first recipients of the Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships are being announced, once again with considerable fanfare.

These are excellent programs intended to address specific needs in the overall research funding fabric developed over the past decade or so. The funding levels are globally competitive and the results are likely to be impressive.

So why is the majority of the Canadian research community in near revolt.? Part of the answer lies within our borders while the rest can be explained by the bold actions of the US administration to raise the status of S&T to a national imperative.

Stagnant funding for basic research at home and a new US commitment to raise R&D spending to 3% of GDP should have this government's Cabinet scrambling to formulate a forceful response. If that's the case, they're keeping it awfully quiet.

The suspicion is that no major new initiatives are forthcoming, nor is any reconsideration of past decisions (read Genome Canada, Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences). The heat is on and it's incumbent upon this government to react appropriately and with necessary haste.