Universities eye federal budget for research cash as competition for talent heats up

OTTAWA — Post-secondary schools and students say the Liberals should make a down payment in the post-pandemic economy by boosting research spending in the federal budget coming this week.Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland will deliver the government’s next fiscal plan on April 7.

Universities Canada president Paul Davidson is expecting it to include some of the promises on research spending made during last fall’s election.

That includes funding 1,000 new Canada Research Chairs, and spending millions more annually on cutting-edge and “moonshot research.”

Davidson says opening the taps for those promises could keep a cohort of researchers in Canada into the next decade rather than being snapped up in the global competition for talent that has heated up through the pandemic.