It's relatively simple: the indirect costs exist, and if nobody pays, then it comes out of the basic funding of universities. The Université Laval has a budget of $430 million and funding of close to a quarter billion dollars for research. The indirect costs represent about $60 million, but we only get $30 million from all sources. So out of the $430 million of our basic budget, $30 million goes to the indirect costs of research. Somebody, somehow, has to pay it. Foundations could ask the provincial government to pay. The provincial government has established a list of various institutions and foundations. For example, it pays for cancer research.
On October 25th, 2006. See this statement in context.