The Government of Canada is continuing their strategy of releasing a steady stream of press releases to demonstrate their strong commitment to research funding. Yesterday’s release had Gary Goodyear (who’s showing up to so many grant competition announcements with bags of pre-budget-cut money that he’s going to need one of his chiropractor colleagues to readjust his back from the strain) in Saskatoon announcing the results of Genome Canada’s Bioproducts and Crops Competition. Goodyear and his government apparently don’t see the irony (admittedly not their strong suit) of using a Genome Canada funding competition announcement to bolster their scientific bona fides, despite their decision not to include any money for Genome Canada to fund new research in the most recent budget.
The Applied Genomics Research in Bioproducts and Crops competition was launched over a year ago (April 1, 2008) and was based on recommendations from position papers produced in July 2007. So while Goodyear and his government can still keep up appearances by showing up at grant decision announcements and stating, “our government recognizes the important role that research excellence plays in furthering innovation and competitiveness,” they’d better make the most of them now, since there will be fewer such opportunities next year.
The press release included a statement from Dr. Calvin Stiller, Chairman of the Board of Genome Canada. Though Genome Canada has been publicly onside with the government, even the quote in the press release hints at his frustration:
In addition to creating and maintaining approximately 250 jobs in Canada, today’s announcement reinforces the important scientific advances that can be achieved through Genome Canada’s funding model.
The press release notes that the competition awarded 12 projects in six provinces a total of $112-million, of which $53-million was provided by the Government of Canada, through Genome Canada. Details of the competition can be viewed here.
Rob Annan Funding Issues, Genome Canada
According to a Globe and Mail story this weekend, Genome Canada has pulled its funding support for an international effort to genetically characterize stem cells. Canadian researchers had initiated and were spearheading the project, which promised to be a major milestone in our understanding of how and why stem cells retain the ability to mature into the variety of cell types found in mature organisms. Dr. Michael Rudnicki, a UofOttawa professor and the senior scientists on the project, said that the head of Genome Canada, Dr. Michael Godbout, told him that the funding was being withdrawn because of the recent Conservative budget cuts to Genome Canada funding. Dr. Godbout maintains that the decision was not due to a lack of funds, but rather was because of “significant scientific and management issues”, despite the recommendation for continued support by a peer review committee. Thankfully, the Ontario government (which seems to understand that investing in this type of work might help mitigate some of the difficulties faced by the disappearance of the automotive industry) has agreed to provide $3.8-million for the project, and other funding sources are being sought by Dr. Rudnicki to maintain Canada’s leadership role in this ambitious and exciting project. Unfortunately, the provincial funding agencies are being forced to try to step up and fill the gaps left by the Conservative government’s cuts to research funding.
As an aside, kudos to Globe editorial staff, and especially science reporter Anne McIlroy for the great work they’re doing reporting on the Conservative cuts to science funding in Canada. They’ve broken important stories and have kept this issue on the front burner. The basic research community has a small voice and has generally been poor at lobbying the government and convincing the public of the value of its work (as pointed out by Preston Manning in a recent op-ed). The Conservative funding cuts, and widespread coverage by the Globe and Mail especially, have perhaps changed this, as more scientists seem to be taking an interest in participating in the public debate over research funding. At the blog Don’tLeaveCanadaBehind, over 2000 scientists have signed an open letter to the government suggesting improvements to the recent funding cuts, and the site is encouraging increased participation of researchers in the funding debate – a great idea.
Rob Annan Federal Funding News, Genome Canada
