A Brief to the House of Commons
Standing Committee on Finance
Presented by the:
Canadian Consortium for Research
Consortium Canadien pour la Recherche
August 2007
Complete
Report in PDF
Chair
Chemical Institute of Canada
Steering Committee Members
Canadian Association of Physicists
Canadian Association of University Teachers
Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences
Canadian Federation of Biological Societies
Canadian Psychological Association
Chemical Institute of Canada
PART ONE - THE CANADIAN CONSORTIUM
FOR RESEARCH:
The Canadian Consortium for Research (CCR) is a coalition of 15 national
organizations representing over 670,000 individuals on the front lines
of research and study in Canada. Our members are from the public and
private sectors and engage in basic and applied research, study and
practice in the humanities and the natural, health and social sciences.
PART TWO – INTRODUCTION and SUMMARY OF
RECOMMENDATIONS
The creation and application of new knowledge in all fields of human
endeavour -- from resource extraction to criminal justice to understanding
the basic physical laws of our universe -- is necessary for our social
well-being and economic prosperity. Successive governments have recognized
this and worked to implement policies that will enhance our research
capability. The CCR acknowledges the attention given to this issue
by the government in its report “Mobilizing Science and Technology
to Canada’s Advantage”. We are also pleased with a number
of specific recent efforts, including the initial Canada Social Transfer
allotment to post-secondary education as well as increases in funding
for the granting councils, Canada Graduate Scholarships, agencies
and programs such as the Canadian Foundation for Innovation and the
indirect costs of research. The Consortium, reflecting the views of
Canada’s front-line researchers, urges the government to build
on these steps and:
- Increase funding for the core operating costs of post-secondary
education institutions through the creation of a dedicated federal/provincial
transfer.
- Increase the budgets of the federal granting agencies.
- Re-invest in government research infrastructure including
government science-based departments and agencies.
These steps require the expenditure of public funds and are therefore
dependent upon a tax system that equitably gathers the revenue necessary
to support world class research infrastructure in Canada.
PART THREE - RECOMMENDATIONS
The success of the research enterprise in Canada depends
on the post-secondary education (PSE) sector fulfilling two important
responsibilities.
The first responsibility is as the source of basic research,
the vision-directed work that produces paradigm-shifting discoveries
from which new theories and practical tools flow. Government support
for this role is crucial because, as noted in the “Mobilizing
Science” report, the long time lines and commercial uncertainties
inherent in basic research discourage private sector involvement ("Mobilizing
Science and Technology to Canada’s Advantage" Government
of Canada, 2007, Page 39, see also “Out of Dusty Labs” The
Economist, March 1, 2007). Some areas of basic research can also have
high societal value, but no commercial application, again making government
support a necessity. In areas of inquiry where basic research has directly
resulted in practical advances, but private industry interest has not
yet materialized, the PSE sector may also have to undertake applied
research to move the discovery forward.
The second PSE responsibility is to prepare new researchers.
Through classroom experience and participation in faculty research projects,
Canada’s universities and colleges work to ensure that their students
can meet the future researcher needs of Canada’s public and private
sectors. Beyond research skills, the PSE sector is also more broadly
preparing students to fill the creative, critical-thinking functions
necessary to manage and build Canada’s economy, society and international
competitiveness.
Despite these critical contributions, the PSE sector was seriously damaged
by the decline in the amount of dollars transferred to the provinces
for PSE that began in the 1990s, and the lack of transparency and accountability
in the transfer. Steps have been taken to rectify the situation, including
the government’s nominal “earmarking” of funds for
postsecondary education in the Canada Social Transfer (CST) in 2008–09,
and the provision to negotiate greater transparency and accountability
requirements. These are positive steps that must be built upon. For
fiscal 2007-08, approximately 25 percent or $2.4 billion of the CST
has been identified as support for post-secondary education. This figure
is well below the $2.9 billion recorded in 1992-93 under the CST’s
precursor funding mechanism. When adjusting for inflation and population
growth, to restore the CST to1992-93 levels requires an immediate increase
of nearly $2.0 billion for a total PSE transfer of around $4.4 billion.
In addition to the restoration of funding, an equally
important step is the creation of an accountability mechanism that ensures
provincial governments actually spend the transfer on the core operations
of post-secondary education. To be successful the transfer should:
-
be governed by nationally established principles
that ensure quality, academic integrity and equitable opportunity
for access to all Canadians;
-
contain binding enforcement mechanisms (including
a claw back mechanism activated if provincial/territorial spending
on PSE does not increase by an agreed upon amount); and
-
to avoid perennial federal provincial disputes
over the transfer amount, be set at a fixed percentage of GDP (a
target of 0.5% GDP would restore federal funding to that of the
late 1970's).
In the absence of these reforms the quality of research
and education in Canada will decline. Necessary repairs to the physical
infrastructure of universities and colleges will not occur. Student
tuition and debt load will increase and, under these circumstances,
more students will fail to pursue undergraduate and graduate studies,
diminishing the number of new researchers and, more broadly, skilled
personnel - at a time when Canada desperately needs more, not less,
such people to remain globally competitive.
To sustain and strengthen the discovery and application
of knowledge in Canada the CCR encourages the government to increase
funding to the three federal granting agencies - the Social Sciences
and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), the Natural Sciences and Engineering
Research Council (NSERC) and the Canadian Institutes for Health Research
(CIHR).
At universities and colleges across Canada, faculty members
are being encouraged to increase their engagement in research activities,
and they are doing so. As a new generation of academics begins their
careers, new and promising lines of inquiry are being opened. Programs
such as the Canadian Foundation for Innovation and the Canada Research
Chairs have provided partial support for a growing range of projects.
This flurry of activity has placed great strain on the financial capacity
of the three agencies and the success rate of grant applicants, and
average grant size, is falling. As a result, Canada is losing opportunities
as talented people and important projects are under-funded or un-funded
- a waste of the very skills and energy that Canada needs to progress.
Funding increases for the agencies are necessary to absorb
the demands of increased research activity, maximize the efficient use
of new and existing human talent and infrastructure, support graduate
studies, facilitate inter-agency collaboration and assist emerging areas
of inquiry. Increases at or below the rate of inflation will not allow
Canada to maintain pace with international competitors who are aggressively
investing in their research sectors.
The CCR cautions against the imposition of external targeting
measures on the granting agencies. Canada can wisely invest in strategic
areas of social and economic importance; but it is imperative that the
research community be an integral part of the decision-making process.
It is the foresight of researchers in determining the direction of their
work, free of commercial, political or religious concerns, that has
lead to the fundamental breakthroughs in understanding that have lead
to economic and social progress.
Increased support for post-secondary institutions and
the research granting agencies is essential, but the government must
also re-invest in its own research infrastructure – infrastructure
that underpins regulatory decisions, protects the health and safety
of the public, maintains national databases and supports both basic
and applied research in the service of sound public policy. In addition
to a myriad of day to day policy choices, Canada also faces major challenges
on environmental protection, energy, pandemic response, food and drug
safety, national security, mental health, etc. To make evidence-based
decisions on the vast array of policy issues, it is imperative that
the Government have its own reliable and unbiased capacity for research
and knowledge generation that underpins sound advice and policy development.
Government departments and agencies, such as Natural Resources Canada,
Environment Canada, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Health Canada, Agriculture
and Agri-Food Canada, the Public Health Agency of Canada and the National
Research Council (NRC) have traditionally filled this role. However,
since “program review” in the 1990s many of these departments
and agencies have lost capacity to fulfill this essential function.
Despite the extraordinary service these departments and
agencies have rendered to Canadians, they suffer from infrastructure
decay and in many cases human resource deficits brought about by lack
of necessary financial support. For example, basic quantitative data
on Canada’s economy, population and education systems is becoming
increasingly difficult to access as Statistics Canada struggles with
chronic under-funding. This is a tragedy. Statistics Canada is a world
renowned organization that supplies Canada’s decision makers and
citizens with invaluable data of a short term and longitudinal nature
that is crucial to informing public policy and legislation. To correct
this particular situation, and the broader problem, the Government must
direct attention to assessing and supporting the research expenditure
needs of its own departments and agencies.
PART FOUR - CONCLUSION
Structural factors in the Canadian economy, notably a
high level of foreign ownership and a reliance on resource extraction,
mean that a large proportion of the research conducted in Canada is
performed in the public sector. Because of this, and the direct relationship
between a research intensive society, a modern, productive, internationally
competitive economy and a strong civil society, the Government of Canada
must generously fund Canada’s research capabilities. The Canadian
Consortium for Research recommends that the Government:
-
Increase funding for the core operating
costs of post-secondary education institutions through the creation
of a dedicated federal/provincal transfer.
-
Increase the budgets of the federal granting
agencies.
-
Re-invest in government research infrastructure
including government science-based departments and agencies.
Posted: August 31, 2007
Canadian
Consortium for Research