In which we discuss the budget
“Tools of the Trade”, you say. Well, I’m going to bend the definition of this blog a little (again), this time towards funding. Which is, of course, what enables us all to purchase the various and assorted goodies that we like to put in our labs.
Connection made. I’ll move on now.
For those of us in Canada, next Tuesday will be a day to watch. While our neighbours to the south have been wrapping up the hoopla surrounding the inauguration of their new President, we in the north have been quietly creeping closer to the tabling of a new federal budget. Our Minister of Finance, who tradition dictates I must refer to as “The Honourable Jim Flaherty“, will be dropping this particular bomb on us on the 27th.
This impacts many things, but the one I’ll be watching most closely is the funding allocation for Genome Canada, which is not only the major funder of large-scale “omics” research in this country, but also distinctly not a persistent line item in the federal budget. Each year, they lobby for funds based on the competitions they envision running and ongoing initiatives they need to support, and each year we all wait with varying degrees of bated breath to see what happens. Early in 2009, our federal administration is pretty shaky indeed, having been prorogued over the Christmas break, essentially to avoid a non-confidence vote headed by a coalition of opposition parties. Ah, the joys of a minority government. While things seems a bit more stable now, a mis-step on Tuesday could nevertheless bring the government down.
So, we’ll wait and see. I had, but did not take, the opportunity to introduce myself to the Minister while he and I were the same flight back from Washington in November (he in first class, returning from the economic summit, me in economy, returning from having lunch with a couple of fellow SAB members). Perhaps I should have mentioned genomics research to him then… but maybe it’s best I left well enough alone.
See you on Wednesday, then.
Posted on Thursday, January 22nd, 2009 at 1:36 pm Categorized as:General You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
