Research Canada endorses $350-million boost to CIHR budget

Canada's biggest advocacy group for health research has endorsed a key House committee recommendation to increase the budget of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) by $350 million over three years. The recommendation was made by the Standing Committee on Finance in its annual pre-Budget report (R$, December 22/06) and embraced by Research Canada as the single most pressing priority to the health research community.

"That's the message that Research Canada has chosen to deliver … It's simple and universal in nature," says Dr Ron Worton, Research Canada's board chair and outgoing CEO and scientific director of the Ottawa Health Research Institute. "If the government gives $350 million to CIHR and declares its intent to fund the Canada Foundation for Innovation and Genome Canada, we would have success."

Founded in 2005, Research canada evolved out of the Council for Health Research in Canada with a broader mandate that includes the use of public polling. The organization's first poll — released last November — found that 91% of respondents support federal investments in basic research and 85% wanted increased health research funding.

Worton says recent investments in university-based research, while welcome, did not achieve the balance required for health research. He suggests that a more appropriate approach should have been greater funding for CIHR and less funding for CFI and the Canada Research Chairs program.

"We need to get the balance," he says. "Research is becoming more expensive and CIHR has not kept pace. It needs $350 million a year to maintain the success rate in grant competitions of seven years ago."

Research Canada has also held meetings with senior politicians and bureaucrats and has attempted to provide input into the S&T Strategy due for release in the coming weeks. Worton says that while these meetings have proven beneficial in delivering the organization's message, he's uncertain how it is being received at the policy level.

"Trying to get feedback from this government is impossible. The government says it is consulting widely but I scratch my head because I don't know of a single person that has been consulted," he says. "The S&T review is underway and when we tried to provide input we were told ‘no'. They say they have already consulted enough."

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