Dramatic increase in federal S&T expenditures due to strategic investment in select programs, StatsCan data show

New federal science and technology (S&T) funding initiatives introduced over the past three years are finally working their way through the system and substantially pushing up the overall total on expenditures for scientific activities, according to the latest data from Statistics Canada. S&T spending intentions for FY00-01 experienced a year-over-year increase of 8.4%, jumping from $6.163 billion in 1999 to $6.680 billion in 2000 in current dollars. Federal outlays on R&D enjoyed an even more substantial rise, up 10.2% in the same period from $3.712 billion to $4.089 billion.

When measured in 1992 constant dollars, the increases are more modest - 4.6% for S&T and 3.6% for R&D. In fact, spending is actually lower than 1993, when federal S&T outlays totalled $5.880 billion, and R&D spending was $3.511 billion.

Whether the new federal S&T funding is enough to significantly raise R&D spending as a portion of gross domestic product will be revealed when StatsCan releases its GERD/GDP survey in early December.

The impact of the Canada Foundation for Innovation accounts for the largest jump in S&T spending, with a 156.4% increase projected for FY00-01. S&T expenditures by StatsCan are up 15.8% for the same period, while outlays by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (formerly Medical Research Council) are up 8.2%.

Most science-based departments experienced only modest increases for FY00-01, with the exception of Fisheries and Oceans, which rose 22.3% to $335 million.

Of the $6.680 billion in S&T expenditures, intramural spending accounted for $3.712 billion, followed by higher education ($1.392 billion), business ($1.131 billion), foreign ($236 million), non-profit institutions ($160 million) and other ($48 million).

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