montreal

Canadian researchers are queuing to claim their share of a fiscal dividend which the Finance Minister, Paul Martin, expects from lowering the federal budget deficit.

Separate presentations to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance have called for a doubling of the Medical Research Council (MRC) budget, a 60 per cent increase in Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) funds, and a 50 per cent increase in the budget of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC).

Also, the Council for Health Research in Canada, a group of voluntary health agencies and research institutions, is aiming to alert government and the public to “Canada's weak investment in health research (which) contrasts sharply with the trends and priority given to research in several other G-7 countries”.

Some scientists are optimistic of success, as Martin has said that half of any surplus would go to social spending and has also spoken positively about science, technology and innovation. But the government may not provide money in the councils' annual budgets, as that would lock it into more or less permanent expenditure. The outcome will not be known for at least a month.

The Council for Health Research in Canada says expenditure on health research has fallen by about 10 per cent since 1990; US spending has risen more than 80 per cent in the same period. Canada's MRC allocates only C$7.27 (US$5.2) per capita for 1998, whereas the US National Institutes of Health allocate C$49.8 per capita. The council recommends minimum increases in MRC's base budget of C$60 million for each of the next four years, resulting in a doubling by 2002.

A submission by the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada, the Canadian Association of University Teachers, the Canadian Consortium for Research, the Humanities and Social Sciences Federation of Canada and the Canadian Graduate Council recommends an increase of 50 per cent in federal funds for the granting councils over four years.

Last year, the government committed C$800 million to a Canada Foundation for Innovation. The submission says that, with funding for this beginning in 1998, “investments in the granting councils in subsequent years will be critically important if we are to take advantage of the enhanced research capacity”.

The submission also calls as an “utmost priority” for 20 per cent of new granting council funds to be allocated to promote research careers. Thomas A. Brzustowski, president of NSERC, elaborated on this in asking for large increases in research subsidies totalling C$160 million.

Brzustowski said the key to success in the knowledge-based economy was to prepare young people to match the world best in science and engineering, but this is not happening. Support for postgraduate students by NSERC, for example, has not changed significantly for five years.

The result is that many fail to develop to their full potential or go abroad, where they receive much higher levels of support. Brzustowski says that an increase of at least 25 per cent is needed in both the value and number of postgraduate scholarships.

He also called for a fourfold extension of NSERC's Undergraduate Student Research Awards in laboratories across Canada, and a 25 per cent increase in graduate and postdoctoral stipends.