Environmental S&T gets $500-million boost in Budget, but federal laboratories come up empty

The federal Budget's package of environmental S&T initiatives provides the clearest signal yet that Ottawa is beginning to regard the environmental challenges facing Canada as an economic opportunity that will receive even greater financial resources over the next two years. The creation of specialized funds, endowments and the renewal of funding for the Climate Change Action Fund all point to the emergence of a concerted approach to increase Canada's commitment to combating the deterioration of the environment and atmosphere in concert with the academic community and private sector.

Proponents of greater funding levels for the environment will undoubtedly be disappointed with the amounts of funding being provided, particularly for the Climate Change Action Fund. In the run up to the Budget, Environment minister David Anderson pegged the amount required at $1.6 billion, but the long awaited strategy on a national action plan for climate change is still pending, and the government was apparently unwilling to make a more substantial commitment.

"The Minister of Finance was not prepared to put much behind the strategy without having seen one. It was brave of this minister (Paul Martin) to put as much in the budget as he did," says David McGuinty, executive director of the National Round Table On the Environment and the Economy (NRTOEE). "Viewing the environment as an economic opportunity is a new approach. This Budget is investing in innovation and new technologies to operationalize the shift. I anticipate there will be a massive climate change budget in the next year or two."

For this year, nearly $500 million is being devoted to environmental research initiatives although next to nothing is being directed towards the strengthening of government capabilities, which are still reeling from the program review-related cuts of the mid 1990s (R$, May 12/99). To encourage the private sector to come to the table, a Sustainable Development Technology Fund (SDTF) is being established with an initial $100-million endowment of year-end money. Aimed at broader technologies relating to climate change - ranging from basic research to prototype and demonstration projects - it's expected to be up and running within one year once programs are designed and an arm's length administration and board are established.

Modeled along the lines of the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the SDTF was championed by Natural Resources Canada minister Ralph Goodale and Environment Canada minister Anderson. It will solicit competitive proposals, including those related to fuel cells. That's good news for the private sector backers of the Fuel Cells Canada proposal, since their proposed initiative was not explicitly mentioned in the Budget (R$, August 25/99).

For academic research, the Budget creates the Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences, a not-for-profit entity endowed with $60 million in year-end money and potential funding from other sources. Slated to last six years, it's expected to provide approximately $10 million annually to individual researchers or networks of researchers. In establishing the Foundation, the government has charged the Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society (CMOS) with its administration, which will make awards on a peer reviewed basis. A board of trustees will be established within two months.

"It covers the gamut of meteorological and atmospheric and air chemistry research," says CMOS president Dr Ian Rutherford, who is also acting as the Foundation's interim board chair. "There's no other example of a learned society running something this big. It covers all the research done internally at Environment Canada and the aim is to supplement work done within the department by the university research community."

Until now, the academic research covered by the Foundation has been performed through the Climate Research Network administered by the Canadian Institute for Climate Studies in conjunction with Environment Canada's Atmospheric Environment Service. The aim of the Foundation is to: channel and strengthen Canada's scientific capacity to address climate change and air quality issues; provide the scientific basis for government policy; provide a better understanding of the implications of these sciences for human health and for the natural environment; foster collaborative and interdisciplinary approaches to research; and, encourage the participation and support of others, including the private sector, in climate and atmospheric sciences in Canada.

In other Budget measures, four programs at Natural Resources Canada received $60 million over three years (see chart), while $9 million over three years is being devoted to the development of new indicators for environment and sustainable development. The funds for new indicators will be split between Environment Canada and the NRTOEE, which will work in conjunction with Statistics Canada.

Notably absent from any of the new environmental research initiatives is the federal government, in particular the laboratories of Environment Canada. CMOS' Rutherford says the decision to create a fund and an arm's length foundation reflects the government's sensitivity to the Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC) scandal and the relatively low public support for government research, except in the areas of health and education.

"(These measures) are really a way to make the budget surplus smaller than it really is. Rather than devote more to pay off the national debt, they're putting into science, but it's a shame government departments are not benefiting," he says. "Government researchers don't have the resources to properly benefit from the research the Foundation will do and that has to be corrected over the coming years."

R$

Federal Budget

Environmental Research Initiatives

($ millions)

* Renewable Energy Development Initiative, Energy Innovators Plus, Commercial Building Incentive Program, and EnerGuide for Houses