CEO Dr. Michael Schull and Board Chair Helen Angus argue that now—more than ever—Canada needs federal leadership that recognizes science and research as critical to our national strength, economic resilience, and global competitiveness.
Elections are no time to talk about serious issues, Prime Minister Kim Campbell is said to have declared in her 1993 campaign. When it comes to science, current federal party leaders are heeding her advice. The campaign is dominated by US events, and the only mentions of science relate to massive cuts to US research funding and efforts to attract American researchers to Canada. Yet Canada’s research and science enterprise needs more than brain-gain and must be included in any strategy to strengthen our sovereignty.
Canadian researchers funded by the US are already threatened by cancellation of grants, while a Canadian cancer research group was forced to delete gender-inclusive language to maintain US funding. The US government is also meddling with established science, including Trump’s executive order condemning race as a social construct rather than a biological reality, contradicting established genetic, health and social science research. The regime’s attacks on science include the de-emphasis of measles vaccine as the best way to prevent measles (which it is) and new studies of measles vaccine as a potential cause of autism (which it isn’t). These politicized attacks on science sow confusion, undermine public confidence in institutions and have arguably contributed to two children dying of measles in the US and the largest measles outbreak in Ontario in decades.
Canadian party leaders are rightly focused on the immediate economic impact of tariffs and other threats, strengthening Canada’s economy, reducing inter-provincial barriers and our dependence on the US. However, publicly funded research in Canada is estimated to contribute tens of billions annually to our economy through direct spending, job creation, and innovation. It serves as a catalyst for long-term growth and global competitiveness in a rapidly changing world.
Yet all major parties have been silent on research and science. For starters, they should commit to speeding up increases in federal research funding. They should endorse the 2023 Advisory Panel on the Federal Research Support System, to encourage urgent, international, multi-disciplinary research in Canada. They should promise to lessen dependence on US research funding by increasing collaboration with the European Union, for example by enhancing Canada’s participation in the EU’s $140 billion Horizon Europe research funding program.
Party leaders must recommit to building pan-Canadian infrastructure, like Canada’s Sovereign AI Compute Strategy, which aims to invest in public and commercial supercomputer infrastructure to drive research and innovation here in Canada. Critical to success is making Canadian data more available by leading a national drive to modernize and harmonize federal and provincial policies and leverage our trusted data stewardship models. Researchers are already building cross-Canada collaborations and networks, for example 14 provincial, territorial and national health data holding organizations like ICES have joined to create Health Data Research Network Canada, making it easier to securely access siloed health data for pan-Canadian research. Similarly, CIFAR has established a national AI ecosystem and works closely with Canada’s three AI institutes, AMII, Vector and MILA. Yet current funding is too limited to drive growth at the pace and scale necessary to maintain international competitiveness.
Finally, great science needs great people. Attracting US researchers to Canada is good but not enough. Key to Canada’s future competitiveness is our ability to train students, early career scientists and qualified personnel and ensure the conditions for their career success in Canada. What better way to signal Canada’s sovereignty than to lead a national drive to train a diverse and inclusive next generation of researchers, including by attracting top-flight graduate students from around the world.
To be fair, Kim Campbell’s infamous quote is a misquote, and there was never a more urgent time for Federal party leaders to talk about serious issues and center research and science as foundational to Canada’s future strength, prosperity and sovereignty.
Op-ed by:
