Ryan Saxby Hill, Media Relations
Photo Courtest of slightly-less-random on Flickr
The federal budget was released last week to much (but seemingly unsustainable) attention from the national press. Generally, the Federation was pleased that SSHRC was supported in the funding announcements and will continue to work with the Federal government to ensure that these announcements are implemented in a way that recognizes the value of our disciplines.
Federation president Noreen Golfman provided the following comments on this year’s budget:
“Viewed within the larger economic context, we consider this budget to be a vote of confidence in the ability of researchers and scholars to support our country’s innovation capacity and competitiveness,” said Noreen Golfman, President of the Canadian Federation of the Humanities and Social Sciences. “Today’s research is interdisciplinary by nature and researchers from all disciplines bring expertise essential for success in the new economy.”
Innovation and research makes the headlines
The national media picked up on the theme of innovation and research and development in the budget including:
The Globe and Mail – Innovation gets a cash infusion (including comments from Noreen Golfman)
Macleans – Budget 2010: Innovation, technology, green initiatives
CBC News – Modest progress on innovation in 2010 budget
The work isn’t over…the Federation is now focused on two critical issues coming out of Budget 2010. We need to ensure that the $45 Million in funding for post-doc positions is split evenly between the granting councils (in the same model at the Vanier Scholarship). We also need to make sure that the review of R&D spending that the government announced is conducted in consultation with the university research community.
You can find the Federation’s call to action on these issues here and our letter to Minister Flaherty here. We’ll continue to monitor the issue and provide updates to our membership as needed. Please feel free to contact me directly if you have any questions, comments or would like to let us know your take on Budget 2010.