Speech from the Throne
Presented April 4, 2006

By: Dr. Art Olson,
CFBS Executive Director

As widely expected, the Speech from the Throne focused almost entirely on the Government’s five priorities (accountability, tax relief, support to families, public safety and health care delivery). Science was only mentioned in the context of one of Canada’s leading edges. The Speech also touched briefly on electoral reform, defense, dealing with both the immediate and longer term needs of agricultural producers, parliamentary review of a number of major pieces of legislation including the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, special measures considered for Quebec and a more open federalism in which fiscal arrangements will be reviewed. This latter commitment provides an opportunity for cooperation between the governments in support of post secondary education.

The likelihood of additional research resources coming available this spring appears to be limited at best given the Government's focus on their five priorities. Our understanding that the only new resources likely to surface in the Budget beyond those identified in the Speech from the Throne are those already approved by the previous Government’s Treasury Board. The success of many of these initiatives will depend on follow-on approvals by the new Government. While rumours suggest that a fall Budget is possible, it would appear that research related monies proposed in the Government’s platform documents will just cover the impact of inflation. NSERC support will likely be constrained as well by commitments relative to operating funds required by CFI. Given that CIHR has been in a growth phase, they may have difficulties in allocating any new monies and it is possible that existing commitments may be impacted.

The new Government is very busy getting organized, establishing an agenda and preparing for the Budget, all with a very high level of scrutiny and lots of challenges. Their overall control of “message” has been quite impressive.

Their appointments of the Chief of Staff positions are pretty well wrapped up as are the filling of the other staff positions each Minister will need. The staffers will need time to get briefed and their priorities established. Many of them have experience with previous federal and provincial governments so the learning curve should be reasonably short. Their work load will be compounded by every interest group imaginable trying to establish a working relationship with their ministries.

The Minister for Industry Canada, the Hon. Maxime Bernier, has been given the mandate to establish Canada’s science and technology policy. In his presentation at the NSERC "Tribute to Research Excellence (the Herzberg and Steacie awards), he indicated that he had just met with the universities and that he was hopeful that some measures in the budget would be well received by the science community.

Any advocacy that is going to succeed must demonstrate strength and focus. For that reason, we will continue to work within the existing coordinating organizations (e.g. Canadian Consortium for Research (CCR),the Partnership Group for Science and Engineering (PAGSE) and Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC) to ensure that Ministers and senior officials are given coherent messages by the science community. Over the next week, I will be meeting separately with CCR, PAGSE and a group of organizations brought together by the AUCC to review the Speech from the Throne and share our understandings of where the Government appears to be headed. As well, Dr. Suzanne Fortier, the new President of NSERC, will be a guest at the PAGSE meeting next week so the combination of meetings should give us a clear idea of what needs to be done.

Incidentally, CCR is planning a ¾ page ad on the value of science in the Hill Times for early ApriI. You might also wish to see Preston Manning’s excellent Op-Ed article entitled "Bridging the Gap Between Scientist and Politician" in the Globe and Mail (February 21, 2006). It was very timely in providing a framework for MP's to consider. Opinion pieces like this are necessities - our member should need no encouragement to provide their own positions at every opportunity.

With a minority government, we will be in contact with the opposition. Our first such meeting will be Thursday, April 6, 2006, with Mr. Paul Crete, the science critic for the Bloc Québécois. Many of the issues we’re facing tend to resolve themselves at the Federal level if everyone understands what they mean.