Cuts to R&D reduce federal S&T spending for the first time in five years

Guest Contributor
November 30, 2008

Federal spending on S&T will decline this year for the first time since FY02-03 despite a significant increase in overall government spending. The Statistics Canada report is based on data compiled well before the current financial crisis. It underlines the growing sense that the Harper administration's public pronouncements of support for S&T are beginning to ring hollow.

S&T expenditures are set to fall 3.0% in current dollars for FY08-09 to $9.863 billion from $10.164 billion last year, while overall spending derived from the government's main spending estimates is estimated to increase 4.6% to $241.3 billion.

The bulk of the decrease is accounted for with a decline in R&D spending of 4.0% to $6.222 billion, while financial support for related scientific activities (RSA) is down a marginal 1.1% to $3.641 billion. S&T accounts for 4.1% of all federal spending, down from 4.6% two years ago. R&D has also dropped from 2.9% of the spending total in FY06-07 to 2.6% in FY08-09.

Among the 16 science-based departments and agencies, the S&T budgets of 10 are slated to decline. Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd takes a especially large hit, dropping 48% from $329 million in FY07-08 to $171 million in FY08-09. The drop is curious, given the latest federal Budget's allocated of $300 million in new funding to AECL which was booked for FY08-09 (R$, March 11/08).

Other departments or agencies with large projected decreases include Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (down 15.1% to $355 million), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (down 6.4% to $902 million), and Industry Canada (down 26.7% to $400 million). The latter decrease is more pronounced as Industry Canada received additional funding for several Centres of Excellence in Commercialization and Research (CECR) booked for FY07-08.

NSERC #1

The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) receives the largest single amount of funding, breaking $1 billion for the second year running.

The largest single amount of funding is being allocated to higher education, with an estimated $2.761 billion in FY08-09, up 1.6% from FY07-08. The second largest performer is the federal government itself, with Intramural spending in FY08-09 estimated at $2.467 billion, down a modest $68 million or 2.7% from the previous year.

Canadian businesses account for $612 million in federal funding down 4.1% from the previous year and 22.6% down from FY05-06 6— the year the Conservative government took office. Funding for Canadian non-profit institutions plummets 44.8% from $310 million to $171 million.

The bulk of the R&D funding decrease came at the expense of the natural sciences and engineering (NSE). While social sciences R&D is holding steady at $805 million, R&D for NSE drops $257 million or 4.5% to $5.417 billion.

StatsCan data are based on the government's main estimates and do not include supplemental estimates or changes at the departmental level. The agency projected a decline in federal R&D and S&T spending two years ago for FY05-06, only to have the data revised to show a 5.8% increase.

For related scientific activities (RSA) spending, Statistics Canada is the single largest recipient at $584 million, followed by Environment Canada ($409 million), Canadian International Development Agency ($371 million), Natural Resources Canada ($340 million) and Health Canada ($327 million). The vast majority of RSA is spent internally —$2.7 billion or 73.9% of the $3.64 billion total for FY08-09.

R$

Federal expenditures on S&T — current dollars

($ millions)
YearMain    
Estimates
   
S&T      R&D      RSA      
1996/1997 156,985    5,694    3,391    2,303    
1997/1998 149,555    5,509    3,379    2,130    
1998/1999 145,457    5,802    3,578    2,224    
1999/2000 151,559    6,252    3,890    2,362    
2000/2001 156,157    6,707    4,150    2,557    
2001/2002 165,234    8,169    4,989    3,180    
2002/2003 170,367    8,014    4,927    3,087    
2003/2004 175,937    8,765    5,462    3,303    
2004/2005183,290    8,934    5,454    3,480    
2005/2006 194,863    9,449    6,042    3,407    
2006/2007207,986    9,633    6,073    3,560    
2007/2008230,772    10,164    6,481    3,683    
2008/2009241,308    9,863    6,222    3,641    

Federal S&T Spending — By major department and agency

($ millions)
 04-05    05-06    06-07    07-08    08-09    
Total 8,934    9,449    9,633    10,164    9,863   
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada 340    354    408    418   355   
Atomic Energy of Canada Limited 148    182    289    329    171   
Canada Foundation for Innovation 271    437    367    316    462   
Canadian Institutes of Health Research 759    808    853   964    902   
Canadian International Development Agency 415    346    344    491    438   
Canadian Space Agency 276    281    305    321    372   
Environment Canada 675   696    588    609    643   
Fisheries and Oceans Canada 291    292    317    282    280   
Health Canada 284    291    330    368    380   
Industry Canada 426    579    444    546 1    400   
National Defence 430    434    450    450    426   
National Research Council793    824    769    755    784   
Natural Resources Canada 632    542    580    601    616   
Natural Sciences & Engineering Research Council 808    864    900    1,021    1,005   
Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council 523   574    628   687   649   
Statistics Canada 610    703    798    680    644   
Total of major departments 7,681    8,207    8,370    8,838    8,527   
Other 1,253    1,242    1,262    1,326    1,336   
1. Includes several Centres of Excellence in Commercialization and Research funded by Industry Canada.



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