p>This morning in Markham, Ont., Liberal leader Paul Martin announced $180-million in new support for four advanced research and development initiatives. One of those was the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Ont.
The institute itself has a statement on its Web site.
But beyond that, this afternoon, the executive director of that institute, Howard Burton, released a statement criticizing this announcement. Here are some excerpts from that statement.
“I had dared hope [such an announcement would be] one component of a coherent, focussed long-term strategy for research excellence across several disciplines …
Such at any rate were my dreams. Reality, sadly, was very different. There was no coherent, long-term framework presented. There was no serious, comprehensive plan at all. ….
In short, the announcement had been reduced to a mere political event — today's desperate attempt to rescue a quasi-moribund Liberal political campaign during an election tha was wholly devoid of any substantive dialogue on science and research policy. And I couldn't even stomach the thought of showing up.
….
The ironic thing about all of this is that the Liberal Party has done wonderful things for research and education in this country over the past decade. By and large, they have a record they should be proud of: Through their policies, they have positioned Canada for future excellence in a number of key areas. Meanwhile, the NDP and the Conservatives have been ominously silent on research and education, enough to give any academic administrator serious anxiety as the polls veer towards a Conservative majority government.
But the central point is this: research policy shouldn't be cheaply politicized, reduced to the sphere of pork-barrel politics or, almost as bad, the appearance of pork-barrel politics. Jean Chretien used to wryly admit that he knew very well that his policies on research and education weren't going to win him any votes. But he did it anyway, becaused he believed it was important. Indeed.
University officials who stood smiling on the podium with Paul Martin today, anxious for their own piece of the action, should know better. The Liberal Party of Canada should know better . . .”