In 1996, Canada was in the bottom ranks of developed countries in terms of research, development and innovation. As we neared the second millennium, we were ill-equipped to compete in that lofty new world of technology, innovation and creativity. Our best and brightest were leaving home to go to countries that allowed them the opportunity to pursue creative, innovative pursuits.
In 1997, spurred by the inspiration of the late Canadian Nobel Laureate Michael Smith, the Chretien Liberal government decided to stop the Brain Drain, and to bring Canada into the competitive arena with other developed nations by investing heavily in Research, Development, Innovation, Science and Technology..
Thus began the Canadian Foundation for Innovation; an arms-length body that, in partnership with the private sector, began to fund university research, linking it with private-sector innovation.
The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (once the poor cousin to its US counterpart) was given a massive infusion of funds, allowing it to become a world-class institution.
Ten years later, Canada is one of the top five countries in the world from which Nobel laureates are expected to come. The Brain Drain not only reversed itself, but Canada became one of the destination countries for the world's brightest scientists. In an era where human capital, skills knowledge and innovation is the most valued coinage, Canada was a competitor. New jobs would stem from this movement, new industries.
In two short years under the Harper government, Canada has watched investments in science, technology and innovation dry up. The Canadian Foundation for Innovation fears for its very survival. Our researchers and scientists are wondering whether there is room for them, whether their future work will be curtailed; whether they need to seek other pastures.
The National Science Advisor's office -- initiated by the Martin Government -- has been cancelled. There are rumours of suppression of scientific evidence in federal departments, especially if the evidence contradicts the ideological policies of the Conservative Government.
Evidence-based information, once the main rationale for good public policy, has given way to vague, belief-based concepts.
But this is not about academia vs. populism: this ideological desire to "dumb down" Canada will affect our competitiveness in the global economy.
It will force us to move down the rungs of the ladder to compete with the developing nations (whose cheaper labour and larger populations will win the day). We will watch our traditional manufacturing sectors fail. Jobs will be lost.
The early symptoms are already surfacing.
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