Ottawa is dangling money for American researchers. But what about our own? |
The McGill University campus in Montreal. Between 2011 and 2019, researchers per 1,000 people employed in Canada dropped from eighth in the OECD to 18th.Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press
John Turley-Ewart is a contributing columnist for The Globe and Mail, a regulatory compliance consultant and a Canadian banking historian.
You found the opportunity you devoted years of study to prepare for. How it came to be defied imagination. In late 2024, U.S. voters sent Donald Trump to the White House for a second term. Trash-talking Canada, attacks on our country’s auto sector and tariffs on Canadian goods cost thousands of Canadian jobs after Mr. Trump took office last January.
Canadian nationalism thrives. We are elbows up, innovation-hungry, boycotting U.S. wine, liquor and travel to American destinations. Build Canada and buy Canadian become a duty.
You look at the university research application fine print. The $1.7-billion over 12 years to kick-start Canadian innovation that Ottawa is promising isn’t for you, an aspiring scholar struggling to make a difference here. No, the research jackpot is for current and rising U.S academic stars and anyone but Canadians in Canada. You are shocked, as all Canadians should be, that our own stars here in this country are prohibited from applying.
Ottawa aims to attract top research talent,........