The Bruce Report

For the country that invented insulin, the electron microscope and standard time – for a nation that has produced ten Nobel laureates in physics, chemistry and medicine – last week’s federal budget seemed a bewildering homage to Luddism.

 

You might recall history’s Ned Ludd, the weaver who went on an anti-technology rampage in 18th Century England, thereby galvanizing a violent, albeit short-lived, movement of village idiots. Good, old Neddy might be forgiven, as he was just an illiterate peasant. But what’s our government’s excuse?

 

After handing out tens-of-billions of dollars for new construction projects, tax relief, improvements to the employment insurance program, and enhanced export development, Harpertown fell silent on the subject of science and technology. Within hours, all hell broke lose within the decidedly non-Luddite segment of society. Specifically, the absence of Genome Canada in the budget raised alarms in the research community and drew attention to other ominous omissions. And there were many.

 

No new money, for example, had been earmarked for operating grants at the nation’s principal “knowledge” agencies – the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Social Science and Humanities Research Council and the National Science and Engineering Research Council. In fact, the budget indicated that these organizations might have to tighten their belts to the tune of $87 million over the next three years.

 

But, it was the apparent snub of Genome Canada – a non-governmental agency that receives, from Ottawa, upwards of $70 million a year, through which it funds 33 major projects in genetic research and supports more than 2,000 jobs – that raised the most hackles. “Our future depends on innovation and knowledge,” fumed Michael Hayden, a geneticist at the University of British Columbia. “Relatively small measures, including increasing the budgets of our national granting councils and Genome Canada, together with moves to stimulate investment, such as tax incentives, could transform new discoveries into products and services.”

 

Of course, he was (and is) utterly right. 

 

Science and technology is a job-generating monster; but not just any jobs. The sector both attracts and produces highly educated, profoundly skilled and handsomely paid professionals, whose ingenuity represents industry’s only hope for robust, diversified, and growing domestic and export markets. The bottom line: Original, creative research, the practical magic of the human imagination, is the single commodity that can guaranty wealth in good times, and bad.

 

What’s odd – indeed, bewildering – is that the current crew at the ship of state’s helm knows this, perhaps better than anyone. Consider the following dedication to R&D on Industry Canada’s website: “Scientific and technological innovations enable modern economies to improve competitiveness and productivity, giving us the means to achieve an even higher standard of living and better quality of life. For the business community, we will focus on what government does best; providing an enabling environment that promotes private investment in R&D, advanced technologies, and skilled workers.”

 

And consider this federal promise: “For the higher-education community, we will sustain our world-leading commitment to basic and applied research in all domains, while focusing that collective effort more effectively on priorities that matter to Canadians. We will sustain our commitment to train the next generation of researchers and innovators upon whom Canada’s future success depends.”

 

Indeed, shortly after assuming office in 2006, Prime Minister Harper, himself, proclaimed: “Canada’s New Government understands how crucial science and technology is to building a strong economy that provides good jobs and higher living standards to families and workers. We recognize that all Canadians have a stake in us getting it right.”

 

That claim hardly seems credible now when the leaders of the country’s closest trading partner, the United States, have just introduced an $825-billion economic stimulus bill that includes tens-of-billions in new funding for basic research, science infrastructure and clean-energy initiatives.

 

Talk about a window of vulnerability – a window through which thousands of talented researchers fly south to ply their trades in the most troubled economy on Earth, and there, perhaps, to restore it.

 

Meanwhile, we in the Great White North build roads no one can afford to traverse, buildings no one can afford to occupy, and classrooms and laboratories no one can afford to fill.

 

Congratulations, Canada. Ned Ludd would be proud.

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