Research funding increase ‘urgent’ in Canada, says new coalition

A Coalition for Canadian Research has been formed to urge the country’s government to increase funding after years of stagnation.

The grouping – representing universities, research institutions, academics and life sciences companies – wants major investment after two years without significant new spending announcements.

It flagged that Canada spent just 1.55 per cent of gross domestic product on research and development in 2022, well below the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development average of 2.71 per cent.

It has written an open letter to the prime minister, Justin Trudeau, and his deputy, Chrystia Freeland, Canada’s finance minister, warning that the country risks a brain drain of top talent overseas if action is not taken.

It wants the government to provide the additional funding requested by a government-commissioned panel led by Frédéric Bouchard, dean of arts and sciences at the University of Montreal, via a significant increase to the base budgets of federal research funding agencies. It also advocates an increase to postgraduate scholarships and postdoctoral fellowships.

The coalition is made up of the following groups: the Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada; the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations; the Canadian Association of University Teachers; Evidence for Democracy; the Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences; HealthCareCAN; the Health Charities Coalition of Canada; Research Canada; Support Our Science; U15 Canada; and Universities Canada.

Philip Landon, interim president of Universities Canada, said research investment was “key to delivering the talent we need to meet our industrial goals and solve the many challenges we face as a country”.

“Yet, at a time when our competitors are doubling down on their domestic research capacity, Canada is falling behind. Now is the time for Canada to take the urgent steps necessary to build the highly skilled workforce of the 21st century by investing in research,” he said.

Sarah Laframboise, a PhD student at the University of Ottawa and executive director of Support Our Science, said early career researchers in Canada were facing “significant financial challenges”.

“Despite being a pillar of the research community, their wages have remained unchanged for 20 years. Today, the research community is speaking with one voice to call on the government to increase funding for research in Canada so that our graduate students and postdoctoral scholars can take home a living salary,” she said.

chris.havergal@timeshighereducation.com