News & Views item

Science reports that Paul Martin's Canadian government as part of its bid for re-election come next year's election is "buying" academics' votes.

Considering the way things are going locally, the hard-headed assessment by Australia's Coalition government could most probably summed up by "why bother".

Troubled Ottawa Appeals To Scientists

OTTAWA--Canada's ruling party is tempting researchers with a $1.5 billion basket of proposed investments over 5 years that it hopes will prove useful at the polls.

This week, Liberal Finance Minister Ralph Goodale unveiled a surprise minibudget that serves in effect as a campaign promise for an election likely to be held in January. If the Liberals win, scientists could see a modest boost for the three granting councils, a near doubling of support for university overhead, and more graduate scholarships. The budget also promises new efforts to commercialize university research. But Canadian Association of University Teachers Associate Executive Director David Robinson warns that "they missed the opportunity to deal with the real underlying issue: lack of core operating funding for universities."