“Moreover, consistent with the jurisdiction of the provinces and territories, the government should increase its support to research through federal granting councils and research agencies as well as for the indirect costs of research. As well, the government should encourage universities and colleges to partner in complementary areas of research and as well as commercialization of research.”
Further extracts from the report are available here.
Both CAP and the Canadian Consortium for Research (CCR) submitted Briefs and made live presentations to the HCFC in the fall, particularly emphasizing the importance of more support for research, via the Granting Councils and the indirect costs program. Clearly, this message has been received. Other recommendations by CAP (support for the CNC, TRIUMF, and NSERC’s MRSP) were acknowledged in the report but did not make it to the recommendations, which do tend to be more generic.
Our specific emphasis on support for basic research via NSERC’s Discovery Grants program was also acknowledged in the report, but is not directly reflected in the recommendations. However, this point was also strongly emphasized in CCR’s direct meeting with the Minister of Finance (James Flaherty) in October.
CAP’s Director of Science Policy was the lead author of CCR’s Brief to the HCFC and played a major role in CCR’s presentations to the Committee and to the Finance Minister.