Ontario announces funding.
The Ontario government has announced $100-million in new research funding today, which will be targeted towards genomics and gene-related research. John Wilkinson, Ontario’s Minister of Research and Innovation, says the announcement “is about the fact that Ontario understands the value of science to our economy. We value the work that our world-leading scientists do and the wealth and jobs that they help to create”.
No doubt this is in part about making points at the expense of the federal Conservatives, whose $148-million cut to federal research funding agencies is generating a backlash from the research community. The press release has this thinly veiled criticism of the federal government: ”At a time when economic challenges are tempting some governments to scale back on their innovation spending, Ontario is more committed than ever to its vision of global leadership through collaboration”. The decision to increase funding, though, also recognizes that previous investments to lure top talent to Canada can be easily and quickly lost, especially given the large vote of confidence US President Obama has recently given to research in the US.
The Globe quotes Mick Bhatia, director of the McMaster Stem Cell Institute in Hamilton, who captures the intangible effect of increasing funding rather than cutting it: “it’s not just the resources; it tells me the Ontario government really gets [the value of research]“.
