QUESTION PERIOD — Employment and Social Development
Funding for Academic Institutions
May 7, 2024
My question is for the Government Representative.
Last year, the University of Alberta received more than $215 million in federal research dollars, representing nearly 1,800 individual funding agreements, and 87% of that funding came from research grants that were subject to independent expert peer review. However, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has recently tabled Bill 18, which would require all Alberta post-secondary institutions to obtain prior agreement from the province before entering into, renewing or extending any federal research agreements to ensure that any federally funded research conforms with Alberta’s priorities, be they political or ideological.
Can you please tell me what steps the federal government could — or may — take to defend the independence of Canada’s national peer-reviewed academic funding programs?
Thank you for your question. Indeed, the legislation to which you referred is deeply preoccupying and troubling. As a former academic — and one who benefited from research funding — we all know the importance of the integrity of funding agencies and, of course, the freedom of the academic community to pursue research that they see fit.
The government has confidence, though, in its funding agencies. Both the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, or SSHRC, and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, or NSERC, have been very clear:
Independent external merit review at the federal research funding agencies adheres to internationally recognized best practices as the fairest, transparent, and most effective way to allocate public funds to research.
And they will continue to act in that same and proper spirit.
