In the aftermath of the recent shooting on Parliament Hill and loss of Canadian Armed Forces soldiers there and in Quebec, the Canadian Consortium for Research extends its thoughts to those impacted by these tragic events.
Ottawa, August 2014 –
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
With 19 member organizations, the Canadian Consortium for Research (CCR) represents more than
50,000 researchers and 500,000 students across disciplines (http://en.ccr-ccr.ca/). In this capacity, it is the
largest advocacy coalition in Canada, focusing on research funding in all disciplines and support for post-secondary education.
The CCR recognizes that the federal government has continued to make investments in research
infrastructures, internships, as well as in Canada’s federal granting councils in past years. We look
forward to further details about the Canada First Research Excellence Fund, which we anticipate will be
accessible to all post-secondary institutions across Canada, based on a peer-review process by the
research community.
We appreciate that in a time of fiscal constraint, increases in research funding may have been seen as
challenging; necessitating a number of years of austerity for the research community, particularly
individual researchers who have seen base funding for the granting councils decrease when adjusted for
inflation. As we enter a surplus budget, increased investments in core funding for research, students and
infrastructure are required to ensure program growth and to position Canada competitively in the
international research landscape.
These investments will contribute to more and better-paying jobs, new inventions and patents, increased
productivity, increased government revenues over the medium- to long-term and an increased standard
of living for Canadians. They will also help to secure Canada’s place as an international work destination
for the next generation of researchers. For these reasons, the CCR submits the following
recommendations for further investments in these areas as part of the 2015 Budget:
The CCR’s recommendations address four of the six key themes identified by the House of Commons
Standing Committee on Finance:
Click here for the full submission: CCR_pre-budget_submission_July2014_v10_Final.pdf
Ottawa, June 06, 2014 –
The House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance has launched its pre-budget consultation process, and is inviting Canadians to participate. A report on the 2014 consultations will be tabled in the House of Commons prior to the December 2014 parliamentary adjournment. Suggestions made by Canadians and the pre-budget report compiled by the Committee will be considered by the Minister of Finance in the development of the 2015 federal budget.
“I am very pleased to be announcing the 2014 pre-budget consultations,” said Mr. James Rajotte, M.P. for Edmonton-Leduc and Chair of the House Finance Committee. “The Committee encourages the input of Canadians in this process, and invites individuals to provide a written submission with their proposals for the forthcoming budget.”
The CCR wishes to congratulate the Honourable Ed Holder on his recent appointment as Minister of State (Science and Technology). The CCR looks forward to working with the new Minister to address issues related to research in Canada.
News Release:
Budget 2014 introduces new funding for research, but more needs to be done.
For immediate release: February 12, 2014 –
OTTAWA— The Canadian Consortium for Research (CCR) welcomes research funding in Budget 2014, some of which support CCR’s key recommendations. The CCR recommended increased investments in basic research, support for students through graduate scholarships and internships, and support for Canada’s knowledge infrastructure.
“We are pleased to see some support for our recommendations in Budget 2014. However, this money is really just the bare minimum required to maintain existing funding for the granting councils and TRIUMF,” says Canadian Consortium for Research Chair, Dr. Lisa Votta-Bleeker.
The $46 million per annum to support advanced research, scientific discoveries, and indirect costs maintains current granting council base funding when adjusted for inflation. “Positively, the new funds for NSERC and SSHRC can be put toward discovery-based research in contrast to the past two federal budgets,” says Dr. Votta-Bleeker.
This budget introduces a Canada First Research Excellence Fund that promises over $1 billion in funding over the next decade. The CCR expects this program will provide research support to all post-secondary institutions and researchers across Canada, and awaits further details.
Budget 2014 includes support for full-time internships for post-secondary education graduates in high-demand fields. While the CCR is pleased to see some investment in internships, it is insufficient to meet current student needs. The Budget does not include any new funding to address the shortfall in Canada’s graduate scholarships nor does it contain any new financial assistance to address student debt.
The CCR is disappointed that its recommendation to support knowledge infrastructure for Statistics Canada and Library Archives Canada was not addressed in Budget 2014. These key institutions must be strengthened as the federal government returns to fiscal balance next year.
Budget 2014 announces funds for TRIUMF, Quantum Computing and the Open Data Institute. The CCR welcomes these funds, but these are insufficient to maintain current levels of operation for TRIUMF when accounting for inflation. As a minimum, all of Canada’s research institutes and laboratories require stable inflation-adjusted funds to continue. New investment is required for program growth and to remain competitive internationally.
The CCR is the largest advocacy coalition in Canada, focusing on research funding in all disciplines and support for post-secondary education. CCR includes 19 organizations that represent more than 50,000 researchers and 500,000 students across disciplines.
For more information:
Dr. Lisa Votta-Bleeker
Chair, Canadian Consortium for Research
executiveoffice@cpa.ca or 613-237-2144 ext. 323
Industry Canada recently sought input from Canada’s scientific community on its Science, Technology and Innovation Agenda. Questions for which the government sought input included:
Recommendations
1. The Granting Councils are the best mechanism to fund basic (curiosity-driven) research in Canada. While funding for the Councils’ targeted programs has increased significantly in recent years, the consensus among our community and our partners in every sector is that increased support for basic research is also essential to a healthy national innovation capacity. Recognizing this, Budget 2010 did increase the Councils’ funding for basic research — a small but much appreciated increase. Much more remains to be done, however, particularly given that the cuts to the Councils mandated in 2009 will reduce their budgets by $87M p.a. in 2011-12 and beyond. CCR therefore recommends:
That the federal government augment the basic (curiosity-driven) research portion of the Granting Councils’ budgets by 5%.
2. A key role of basic research is to educate, inspire, and unleash the creativity of the next generation of highly qualified people. Relative to our population, however, Canada produces 35% fewer graduates at the crucial doctoral level than the OECD average or the U.S.10 This has been recognized by the federal government with the creation of, for example, the Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships. CCR therefore recommends:
That additional graduate level scholarship programs be developed and sustained over the long term to support emerging researchers, as current stimulus programs expire.
3. Adding at least 40% to the direct costs of conducting research in Canada, indirect costs29 are reimbursed by the federal Indirect Costs Program at only about 25%.30 The shortfall is borne by the research institutions, forcing them to forego other investments that would improve the quality of teaching and research. The U.S., U.K. and the EU recognize the impact of such a burden and reimburse 40-60% of the direct costs of research. Maintaining world-class research infrastructures and facilities in Canada requires increased support to cover these costs. However, CCR recognizes the current financial situation and therefore recommends:
That the funding for the indirect costs of university research rise over the course of the next 5 years to represent 40 percent of the direct costs funded by the granting councils.
July 27, 2010
The Right Honourable Stephen Harper
Prime Minister of Canada
House of Commons
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6
Dear Prime Minister:
I am writing on behalf of the Canadian Consortium for Research (CCR) to express our profound dismay at the decision of your government to discontinue Statistics Canada’s mandatory long-form census survey. The CCR is a coalition of private and public sector research and post-secondary education organizations representing some 50,000 researchers and 500,000 students in a wide variety of disciplines across Canada.
Information generated by the mandatory long-form provides a scientific basis for individuals, families, businesses, churches, unions, charities, communities, and governments to understand the workings and directions of Canadian society and to consider and implement personal, economic, and policy decisions. Moreover, Statistics Canada has long-standing and effective policies for protecting the privacy of individual respondents.
The discontinuance of the mandatory long-form will deny Canadians and their governments the ability to make the best possible planning and investment choices, whether they relate to neighbourhood or national issues, in both the public and private sectors. Given the nearly unanimous and unprecedented concerns of the research and policy communities, the Consortium urges you to restore the mandatory long-form census and to protect a critical and internationally recognized element for strong Canadian policy analysis.
Yours sincerely,
Paul S. Vincett
Chair, Canadian Consortium for Research
c: The Honourable Tony Clement, Minister of Industry
Dear Parliamentarians,
“Publicly Funded Research: The Essential Foundation for Excellence in Commercialization.” So wrote Industry Canada’s business-based Expert Panel on the Commercialization of R&D.
Their 2006 recommendations “are based on one key premise: continuing government commitment to publicly funded research carried out with little or no expectation of commercial application.” (What we call basic research.) “The challenge for government is to increase — not merely maintain — its investments in publicly funded research, while encouraging private sector R&D”.
In other words, this distinguished primarily-business group insists that we must have increased but balanced investments in basic and targeted research.
It’s widely accepted that basic research is essential to our long-term prosperity, and we can’t rely on the rest of the world to do it for us.
Recent Budgets contained some welcome support for university research. But, unlike the U.S., basic research is being squeezed in favour of increased shorter-term targeted efforts. Please use your influence to ensure that Canada’s research granting agencies and universities have the money for increased support of basic research too.
Sincerely,
Roland Andersson
Acting Chair, Canadian Consortium for Research