Budget release: Canada courts US researchers and signals wider commitment to science

"The contents of Prime Minister Mark Carney's first federal budget, released on 4 November, came as a relief to many researchers in Canada - because a large cut to the country's three main research-funding councils failed to materialize. The nation has also poured further investment into attracting international scientists from abroad. With the economic fallout from US President Donald Trump's tariffs and the planned increases in expenditure on housing, infrastructure and national defence, Canada's government departments had been asked to plan for 15% cuts in the lead-up to the 2025 budget. The scientific community feared that had those cuts been applied to the funding councils, they would have erased the large, multi-year increase promised in the 2024 budget. Much of this increase had been earmarked for long-overdue salary boosts for PhD students and postdoctoral fellows."

"In the end, the funding councils were spared the worst of the cuts and asked to find only 2% in savings. Three other areas were exempted from the 15% target: national security and public safety; Indigenous reconciliation; and gender equality, including for people from sexual and gender minorities (LGBTQ+). "Given the context, the fact that the government put science, research and innovation front and centre and said we cannot cut here is extremely encouraging for us," says Félix Proulx-Giraldeau, interim executive director of the science-advocacy group Evidence for Democracy in Ottawa. "It shows that they understand that science is central to Canada's competitiveness in this changing global context.""

"The 2% cut leaves the planned funding increase from 2024 largely intact. The savings will be found from councils' operational funding, leaving grants untouched, according to Robert Asselin, chief executive of U15 Canada, an association of 15 of the country's most research-intensive universities. Asselin also welcomed five-year plans to invest Can$92"

Canada's federal budget avoided large cuts to the three main research-funding councils, reducing their required savings to 2% rather than the planned 15%. The 2% saving will come from operational budgets while grants remain untouched, keeping the 2024 funding increases largely intact. Significant planned increases had been earmarked for salary boosts for PhD students and postdoctoral fellows. Three priority areas were exempted from deeper cuts: national security and public safety; Indigenous reconciliation; and gender equality, including support for sexual and gender minorities. The budget also includes further investment to attract international scientists and multi-year university support plans.

Read at Nature