Federal science and technology spending declines for the first time in five years

The federal government's recent track record of boosting S&T spending appears to have ground to a halt according to the latest data from Statistics Canada. After increasing to 5.1% of the total government budget in FY05-06, federal S&T expenditures now account for 4.5% and have generally stagnated at the major science-based departments and agencies. The new data add fuel to suspicions that federal S&T has slipped on the priority ranking of the current government.

In FY07-08, federal S&T outlays totalled $9.534 billion, compared to $9.662 billion last year. The decline occurred in the area of related scientific activities (primarily data collection) which shrunk from $3.6 billion last year to $3.467 billion this year.

R&D spending has essentially remained flat over the past three years — $6.042 billion in FY05-06, $6.062 billion in FY06-07 and $6.067 billion in FY07-08.

When inflation is factored in, however, the federal R&D pie is slowly shrinking. As measured in constant 1997 dollars, federal R&D outlays dropped 1.3% between FY05-06 and FY06-07. No data are available for the current FY.

The higher education sector receives the largest single portion of federal R&D funding at $2.6 billion, although the FY07-08 increase is just 0.9% higher than the previous year — the smallest annual increase in the past five years. Of the funding to higher education, 80.4% went to the natural sciences, while the social sciences accounted for 19.6%.

intramural R&D up slightly

Federal intramural R&D spending — considered the bell weather for gauging support for government science — nudged up 1.7% to $2.338 billion in FY07-08, largely due to significant increases for the Canadian Space Agency ($172 million/+59.3%) and Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd ($171 million/+36.4%).

Among the major science-based departments and agencies, Natural Resources Canada fared best, with an 8% increase to $212 million. Other departments and agencies were either unchanged (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada at $307 million) or experienced declines:

* National Defence: $238 million, down 14.7%

* National Research Council: $544 million, down 5.9%

* Environment Canada: $183 million, down 4.2%

R&D funding assistance to Canadian companies in FY07-08 was $733 million, the lowest since FY04-05 when it was $704 million. The highest period over the past five years was FY05-06 when federal support amounted to $791 million.

Federal funding of Canadian non-profit institutions continues its five year slide, falling every year from $340 million in FY03-04 to just $183 million in FY07-08, a decline of 46.2%.

Non-profit institutions also took the biggest hit in the area of related scientific activities (RSA) spending, dropping from $174 million in FY03-04 to just $69 million in FY07-08, a 60% decline.

RSA intramural spending is down slightly to $2.635 billion, stagnant for higher education ($280 million) and up modestly for Canadian businesses ($329 million).

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