The newly proposed Canadian budget includes a $72.79 million per year increase for the country's research councils, ScienceInsider reports. This influx of funds comes after years of flat or declining budgets, it adds, noting that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had promised "sunny days" when his Liberal party won last fall.
Finance Minister Bill Morneau announced that the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, and the Social Sciences and Engineering Research Council are each to receive budget increases this year, in addition to deferred increases that were announced last year. That, ScienceInsider adds, brings CIHR's budget to $789.21 million, NSERC's to $865.83 million, and SSHRC's to $558.58 million.
Morneau also said that some programs that had been shuttered during the previous government would be resurrected. For instance, the Post-Secondary Institutions Strategic Investment Fund that enables universities to "modernize research labs, retrofit buildings used for advance training, and expand on-campus incubators that support start-ups" will be brought back with $1.53 billion in funding over three years.
He also announced $181.75 million for Genome Canada to support its regional genomics centers in 2019 through 2020. GenomeWeb has more on this here.
According to ScienceInsider, Morneau says that more will be forthcoming as the Liberals "put forward a new Innovation Agenda which will outline a new vision for Canada's economy as a center of global innovation, renowned for its science, technology, resourceful citizens, and globally competitive companies."