Roseann O’Reilly Runte is President and CEO of Runte and Associates Inc.

The idea of national projects that will transcend regionalism offers an extraordinary opportunity

to lift the economy and bring Canadians from across the country together.

Excellent initiatives have emerged and hopefully, once the risks and benefits have been weighed, we will be witness to extraordinary demonstrations of our capacity to build and to do so together, crossing geographical obstacles and political boundaries.

There is one national project that has been years in the making, has been fully tested, reviewed

and approved several times over. It is truly inspiring, modest in cost – even revenue generating,

while contributing positively to the environment.

Big science will, in addition to uniting people across the country, make Canada known and respected internationally.

For decades the federal and provincial governments, universities, colleges and hospitals, along

with industry have, together, supported the facilities that enable researchers across the country

to develop the science and technologies to support fields that include agriculture, transportation,

medical developments, quantum technologies, and energy.

Researchers and institutions compete for funding for specific projects and for the facilities and

equipment required. Competition for funding is intense, especially among the larger facilities

which receive operating funds for a limited time. The very largest facilities require a longer

lifeline.

It takes years to build facilities like Triumf, the nuclear facility in Vancouver, B.C. where isotopes can not only be produced but discovered, or SNOLAB near Sudbury, Ont., where studies of neutrinos and infinitely small particles enabled Queen’s University Professor Emeritus Dr. Art MacDonald’s work which was recognized with the Nobel Prize in Physics.

Science is about discovery and it is high time we discover and applaud the excellent science

being done in Canada and its global potential.

Science can be a unifying factor, reinforcing Canada’s leadership internationally while contributing positively to our health, the environment and the economy. It will enable the development and design of new concepts and the realization of the national projects which we currently contemplate.

Time to stabilize support for major science facilities

Some years ago, a plan to stabilize support for the major facilities that combine size, scope and

excellence was developed. It was placed in the budget for future years and realizing this

commitment is essential.

Major Science Infrastructure is a national project that crisscrosses the country, includes and enables work in environmental technologies, clean water supplies, energy and photonics, to name a few of the fields covered. Facilities are located across the country and accessed by researchers in every province.

We define our nation as extending “from sea to sea to sea” and we possess, for example, a

triumvirate of Major Science Facilities that reflect our national reality and coastlines: Ocean

Networks Canada on the West Coast, Ocean Tracking Network in the East, and the icebreaker Amundsen in the North.

It is predicted that the global ocean economy will double by 2030. We need these research facilities to be sure Canada is part of that growth and that our waters and marine life are understood and protected.

Researchers collaborate with the National Research Council that supports Canada’s Ocean Supercluster, wave testing facilities, coastal erosion studies, and ship building technologies, to name a few.

Ocean and Marine science includes, for example, Oceans North leading Indigenous marine research and businessman and philanthropist Jim Balsillie’s not-for-profit Arctic Research Foundation.

Canada must reaffirm its commitment and support the Major Science Research Infrastructure located across the country. We will then have reason to celebrate the work of the top scientists who are committed to improving the lives and livelihoods of Canadians. The world will take notice.

The collaborative work of all levels of governance in support of each of the Major Science

Initiatives has measured the excellence of these facilities and provided a reasonable timeline

for their funding. This work offers a fine example of truly national projects that have already

been established and reviewed.

We can be grateful for the prescience of researchers and those who have laid the plans and those who will continue to support these facilities that unite us across our vast geography.

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