Genome Canada's omission from Budget triggers torrent of negative publicity

Genome Canada's failure to secure funding for new competitions and international collaborations has cast the Conservative government's S&T policies in the worst possible light and offered up a dangerous lightning rod for criticism of its innovation strategy.

At a time when competing nations are ramping up their S&T spending, the government's decision deny the agency's reported $370-million, five-year request for new funding is being viewed as a lack of vision and a signal that Canada is not willing to play at innovation's leading edge.

Genome Canada president and CEO Dr Martin Godbout initially criticized the absence of Budget funding. But after a barrage of blistering newspaper headlines, Godbout stopped speaking to the media. His board of directors then posted a statement on the agency web site, deeming the budget to be "good news for the scientific community" and expressing confidence that future funding requirements will be met.

The board statement and muzzling of Godbout did little to slow the torrent of criticism directed at the government's approach to science. Media outlets across Canada and internationally, repeated the story and expanded their examination of the Budget's S&T initiatives to the granting councils. There they found an equally potent target for criticism, namely the cutting of the council's base budgets and the first instance in years in which the Budget did not at least provide an increase to cover the cost of inflation. The Budget's overall lack of support for research talent has raised the spectre of reversing Canada's impressive brain gain of recent years.

For Genome Canada, the lack of new funding places in jeopardy its $25- million commitment to the Toronto headquartered International Cancer Genome Consortium.

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