Peter Andre Smith’s article on the Experimental Lakes Area (ELA) evoked bittersweet memories as I began my scientific career at the Freshwater institute just as ELA was getting under way. I never worked at ELA. The Arctic was my beat, another vast region that our federal governments have virtually ignored as far as R&D is concerned. But we were all excited by the potential of whole lake experimentation. It is tempting to lay the blame for the demise of ELA directly at the feet of the present government and surely the Harper government is no friend to basic research, especially research that might create difficulties for industry. However, the Harper government was not the first to take aim at ELA. The present government simply delivered the killing blow to an institution that had been severely injured by successive cuts of earlier governments. For a wealthy country, Canada has a tradition of niggardliness when it comes to funding R&D. Our total research expenditure is only about 1.8% of GDP, right up there with Luxembourg. Little Finland spends about twice as much and war torn Israel 2.5 times as much. Canadian governments perpetually whine that Canadian industry does not spend enough on R&D but industry in Canada spends 3 times what the government spends. Strangling government support for research will not encourage industry to spend more. Despite severe limitations in funding, the Canadian government has a proud history of research excellence in several fields (agriculture, forestry, geology, fisheries, communications among others). Over my 40 year career I saw all of these research areas whither. Withdrawal of funding for ELA, and the redirecting of NRC are just the two most recent government attacks on basic research in Canada. Why are Canadian governments so disinterested, even antagonistic to basic research? Personally, I think it is a reflection of immaturity in our government leaders and perhaps in the population as a whole. The public does not demand that our governments support a strong R&D agenda so it is an easy target for government cuts. We also have the advantage of being able to ride on the coat-tails of our G8 partners, almost all of whom spend a lot more on R&D than Canada does. The sad fact is that Canada can chip away at R&D support for decades to come and most Canadians won’t notice any effect on their lives. As with the arts, basic research is an important thread in the fabric of Canadian culture. The more we lose, the more threadbare our society becomes. Mike Healey
Posted on: Fri, 05 Jul 2013 03:24:32 +0000
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