Editorial - 26-6

Can government scientists fulfill their mandates with 2,000 less people? Are the cuts being administered across federal science-based departments and agencies the right ones? These questions and more are being asked throughout the broader S&T community as details trickle out on the impact of the Harper government's austerity measures aimed at eliminating the federal deficit by FY15-16.

Cost cutting is never a pleasant exercise but neither is the prospect of festering budget shortfalls and an increasing share of the GDP devoted to servicing the national debt. One has to wonder, however, why science-based programs are being asked to suffer a disproportionate share of the pain inflicted by removing $5.2 billion, or 6.9% of federal spending, from a review base of $75.3 billion.

We've so far seen the impact on agencies like the Canadian Space Agency, Communications Research Centre, International Development Research Centre and others, but there's more to come. It's still unclear how the National Research Council will deal with its $16.3 million cut, or how the granting councils will seek to preserve their basic research funding envelopes while demand continues to rise.

What would be helpful at this stage is for government to release its overall plan for S&T and explain how and why we can do without the programs, function and capacity that's being cut in the name of fiscal discipline.

This government has repeatedly stated that research and innovation are among their top priorities. Removing 10% of the S&T budget is a curious way of demonstrating it.