When I joined CFBS this past spring, I had relatively little knowledge
of the breadth of activities that CFBS was involved with. My thanks
to the CFBS Executive for helping my transition over the year by continuing
Dr. Bruce Sells’ involvement. I have a reasonable knowledge of
the Ottawa scene and research policy in general, but his experience
and many contacts have been most helpful.
Over the past decade, CFBS has come to depend on three sources of revenue
in order to continue the primary mission of advocacy. The first of these
sources is membership fees which make up about 40% to 45% of the Federation’s
income. The second is the holding of conferences which provide about
50 to 55% of the revenue and an opportunity to showcase Canadian science.
The remainder results from a number of service contracts with member
societies. The conferences require a significant amount of effort both
by the local organizing committees and by the CFBS office.
Maintaining a presence in Ottawa and taking part on an ongoing basis
in activities that provide access is essential. The support from the
CFBS office is the basis for this capability. Ms. Wafaa Antonious and
Ms. Laila Riad work very hard in ensuring that Bruce and I are supported
appropriately in carrying out our advocacy.
This past year, the CFBS Executive approved the holding of two conferences,
one in Saskatoon and the other in Ottawa. Both provided excellent opportunities
for scientific discussion although the workload for the CFBS office
was probably excessive.
As noted above, the primary reason for CFBS’ existence is advocacy
– to provide means for the member societies to ensure that their
point of view is heard in Ottawa. This year has been particularly challenging
given the new Government, significant departures announced in the 2006
Budget this past spring, many changes in the senior levels of government
administration and the pressures created by the community trying to
establish communications with the new Government. The ongoing shift
in policy has required a great deal of work by Ministers, their staffs
and public servants right across the government. And these shifts to
Ottawa’s policy environment are far from being complete. The recent
Economic and Financial Update is still being digested with expectations
that 2007 Budget will start to put in place a number of re-directions
that will significantly change the nature of Canada’s research
environment.
One of the complications resulting from accountability and entitlement
issues over the past few years includes increased scrutiny of lobby
activities. This next year, we expect to report on every contact made
within the bureaucracy and on whose behalf the contact was initiated.
Concerns have been raised that this may result in a freezing of access.
Advocacy essentially involves ensuring decision makers have good understanding
of issues that are important to our community. This is achieved at many
different levels through telephone calls, letters, meetings and presentation
of briefs. In a number of cases, participation in umbrella organizations
has been effective. For instance, the Partnership
Group on Science and Engineering (PAGSE) and the
Coalition for Canadian Research (CCR) ) have been effective sources
of information on who is doing what in Ottawa. I was an active participant
in the drafting of the PAGSE brief “Towards
a National Science Policy for Canada” to the House of Commons’
Finance Committee.
Over the year, I’ve also had contact with officials at Health
Canada, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Agriculture and Agri-Food
Canada, Industry Canada, the Privy Council Office, Natural Resources
Canada, National Defence, Fisheries and Oceans, the Natural Sciences
and Engineering Research Council, the Canadian Institute for Health
Research (CIHR) and the Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI). I’ve
also met with the Canadian Council for Animal Care (CCAC), a range of
related organizations such as the Agricultural Institute of Canada,
the Ottawa Life Sciences Council, Plant Canada, Research Canada (An
Alliance for Health Discovery) and other groups such as the Association
of Universities and Colleges of Canada. My contacts with provinces have
been limited although I have had significant discussion with some provincial
officials. This may become a growth area if the Government chooses to
limit its’ spending powers in areas impacting research.
Dr. Sells and I developed “, Sustaining
a Renewable Resource” as a brief on behalf of CFBS that has
been forwarded in October to science departments. The brief stresses
the need to accelerate the evolution of Canada’s science and technology
framework, continue to develop and acquire highly qualified personnel,
sustain the investment and maximize the return from research investment.
Dr. Sells and our office have been quite busy setting up this coming
year’s Northern Lights Conferences on Nanomedicine and Metabolomics.
As well, Dr. Sells is currently in discussion with the Parliamentary
Library regarding the Parliamentary Library Partnership Lectures to
Members of Parliament. Current plans are for 2 lectures on life science
topics during 2007. Last year’s topic was nanotechnology.
Again with Dr. Sells’ advice and support, we’ve drafted
a work plan that has been submitted to the CFBS Executive for comment
and response. The intent is to focus our efforts as your advocate on
areas in which we can make progress.
Gaining input from members is an ongoing challenge. I appreciate that
most of our member societies face pressures from their membership regarding
their contribution towards our advocacy efforts however also would note
that CFBS is the only vehicle available for ongoing advocacy relating
to Canadian researchers in the life sciences. WE need your advice and
input on program changes and shifts in emphasis. Without these, it is
difficult to represent your interests effectively – and given
the changes that are being considered essential to sustaining the kind
of research environment Canada needs for our future competitiveness
and quality of life.
This fall, the CFBS Board Meeting approved the President making contact
with the Executives of the CFBS member and associated societies to establish
an ongoing science advisory council. This is under discussion at present.
I’m hopeful that this will be a successful approach to creating
an ongoing mutual dialogue between the societies and the CFBS office.
At the same time, I fully understand that many of these same executive
members are serving their society or CFBS off the corners of their desk
– thus are planning to use monthly conference calls to share what
we’re picking up, what the research community wants and what they
are hearing.
This next few weeks prior to the Holidays and then the period prior
to Budget 2007 will be busy times. Your input will be very helpful.
