October 5, 2023
The Right Honourable Justin Trudeau, P.C., M.P.
Prime Minister of Canada
Office of the Prime Minister
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A2
The Honourable Chrystia Freeland, P.C., M.P.
Deputy Prime Minister of Canada and Minister of Finance
Office of the Deputy Prime Minister
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A2
Dear Prime Minister Trudeau and Deputy Prime Minister Freeland:
As research advocacy organizations, we represent the combined voice of post-secondary institutions, research hospitals, leading life sciences companies, university and hospital-based researchers, university faculty, health charities, student leaders, graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, and early career researchers across Canada. We are passionate believers in the importance of a healthy and vibrant research and innovation ecosystem which shapes highly talented thinkers and equips Canada with the ideas and knowledge it needs to build a more prosperous, sustainable, and inclusive future for us all. We can all be proud of the sizeable achievements that have come in the past from Canadian governments choosing to invest in science and research.
In recent years, however, Canada has been falling behind peer countries, and we are writing to you today at a time of urgent need and mounting international competition to call for a major new investment in research to correct this decline. Countries like the United States, Germany and Japan have committed substantial new funding to make research a central component of their industrial vision and their solution to problems from climate change to future pandemics.
In contrast, Canada’s funding for research is stagnating at a time when new insights and highly-qualified talent are needed more than ever to meet the emerging challenges of our time. In real terms, funding levels are declining and will worsen in the years ahead without immediate action…..