Additional On-Line Budget Coverage: S&T organizations receive follow-on funding in Budget, often at reduced rates and for shorter time periods

Budget 2010 Additional On-Line Coverage

Genome Canada

Many of the S&T-related initiatives in the 2010 Budget can be categorized as follow-on funding for established organizations and agencies, with the largest single measure devoted to Genome Canada. The $75 million in year-end funding will allow for a single competition targeting forestry and the environment - one of five areas previously identified by Genome Canada as priorities. The latest funding follows $140 million in year-end funding for a new competition targeting agricultural plants and bioproducts provided in the 2008 Budget (R$, March 11/08). Genome Canada has now received $840 million from the government since its inception in 2000.

"(Genome Canada) offered the government options on where they wanted to move forward ... This is another $75 million - it was their option they presented to us," says Dr Gary Goodyear minister of state for science and technology. "We said ?sure, let's go into the forestry sector'. It's one of our natural resources and holds great opportunities in terms of job creation not to mention assistance to our environment and climate change ... I look forward to working with them as we develop new ideas for the future."

The funding arrives in the wake of a long period of silence by the not-for-profit organization following the public flame-out of its president. Dr Martin Godbout publicly criticized the government after it ignored the agency's request for $350 million over five years and quietly left the organization last fall (R$, October 26/09).

Regional Development Agencies

The Budget provided innovation-related funding for three regional development agencies - the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) ($19 million/year), Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions (CEDQ) ($14.6 million/year) and Western Economic Diversification Canada (WD) ($14.7 million/year). ACOA's funding will allow for an extension of the Atlantic Innovation Fund (AIF) as well as the agency's Innovative Communities Fund. The new money allows AIF to launch a new competition but at nowhere near the scope of previous competitions. Since 2000, AIF has received $600 million in federal funding in two five-year tranches, averaging $60 million a year.

CEDQ funding will focus on helping smaller companies enhance their competitiveness while WD funds will support initiatives to promote companies' R&D capabilities and help firms and communities "take advantage of domestic and international opportunities".

NRC cluster renewal

The National Research Council's 11 technology clusters have been given a reprieve with $135 million over two years. The NRC recently aligned the funding periods for its various clusters so they all came due for renewal at the same time. Previous cluster funding has been for five-year periods.

"NRC clusters are long-term investments and they need more than a two-year time horizon," says Dr Peter Hackett, former NRC VP research and executive professor at the Univ of Alberta's School of Business.

ISTPP Renewal

Renewal funding was also the order of the day for the International Science and Technology Partnerships Program (ISTPP), funded through the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade to support the successful International Science and Technology Partnerships Canada (ISTP Canada). The Budget provided ISTPP with $4 million over two years, which Budget documents describe as a "seed fund" for bi- and tri-lateral partnerships between Canada, India, China and Brazil. The funding is at the same level as previous allocations but over two years instead of five - yet another example of short-term support that many organizations say makes it difficult to effectively plan for the future and attract funding partners.

Arctic Research Station

The Arctic Research Station - announced with great fanfare in 2007 - received $18 million over five years to move the project into the preconstruction design phase. Delivered through Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, the funding follows a $2-million allocation over two years for a feasibility study for the proposed high-Arctic facility and $85 million in the 2009 Budget to maintain and upgrade existing facilities as part of the federal economic stimulus package. All stem from the Canadian Arctic Research Initiative, which was first announced in the 2007 Speech from the Throne. It has also been the focus of a study by the Council of Canadian Academies which was critical of the initiative's lack of detail on key elements including the proposed research station and funding levels required to implement the overall strategy (R$, November 13/08). The site of the new research station and its funding requirements are still not known and with the latest funding, actual construction of a new research station appears to be at least five years away.

Venture capital

The Budget also took measures to attract foreign venture capital (VC) to Canada's cash-starved high-tech sector with the elimination of a key reporting requirement for foreign-based VC firms. Killing Section 116 of the Income Tax Act removes reporting obligations that currently require every investor in a VC fund and private equity to submit individual forms when making an investment in a Canadian-owned company. Last year, VC investment in Canada hit a 13-year low of just over $1 billion, with many firms unable to secure follow-on investment from either domestic or foreign sources.

No Climate Change Measures

This year's Budget is notable for its lack of new initiatives dedicated to research on climate change. Its absence prompted criticism from many environmental groups including Canada's lead agency for climate change research. Dr Gordon McBean, chair of the board of directors for the Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences (CFCAS), stated in a press release that it was "acutely disappointed at the Budget's abandonment of climate sciences and highly qualified people" and called for an urgent reinvestment in climate change research and talent.

"Budget 2010 is basically a nightmare scenario for scientists across the country - our community is gutted," stated McBean, a, professor at the Univ of Western Ontario, and chair for policy in the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction and former Environment Canada official. The CFCAS statement contended that lack of climate change research funding would hamstring government's ability to evaluate the effectiveness of green technologies, northern infrastructure, the energy industry, water supply and clean air.

Late last year, the CFCAS received a one-year, no-money extension to its expiring mandate prompting concerns that Canadian climate change scientists would leave the country in pursuit of appropriate programs and funding. In early 2010, CFCAS was told by the Environment minister not to expect any new money in the March 4th Budget (R$, January 25/10).