Growing pains evident as new ministry combines S&T with economic development

Observers say the prominent exposure afforded the work of Roger Martin and his Task Force on Competitiveness, Productivity and Economic Progress indicates the strategic direction of the new ministry under the leadership of Jim Flaherty.

MEOI has been curiously hesitant to release an innovation index which was completed several months ago, allegedly because it’s seen as conflicting with the work of the Task Force. The index was developed by a sub-committee of the Ontario Innovation and Science Council, headed by David Crane a Council member and business editor at the Toronto Star.

The OSIC was created in late 1999 to provide arm’s length strategic advice to government, but little has been heard from the group in the interim. OSIC chair Dr Suzanne Fortier sits on the Martin Task Force, and each group has a separate secretariat, but the two groups have no interaction. The splash page on the ministry’s web site features a prominent hot link to the Task Force web site, but no information on the OSIC could be found.

The ministerial restructuring wedded 365 staff from MEDT and just 65 from MEST, although the latter brought a budget roughly equal to MEDT’s to the marriage.

“(MEST staffers) are viewed as up-starts,” says one ministry employee. “I’m concerned that (the merger) is not going as well as I thought it would. The turf war is still going on but it’s beginning to take shape.”

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