Mr. Chair, members of the committee, thank you for giving us the opportunity to present our suggestions for the next federal budget on behalf of 68,000 professors, librarians, researchers, professionals and other staff working in over 120 universities and colleges across the country.
The Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) is actively involved in improving the quality of post-secondary education, by increasing accessibility and safeguarding academic freedom.
After years of austerity and attacks against science and scientists, Canada needs a new vision to get science right and improve accessibility and quality of post-secondary education.
CAUT welcomes the new government's commitments to unmuzzle government scientists, to make government science fully available to the public, and to ensure that scientific analysis is considered in decision-making. CAUT applauds the restoring of the long-form census. We were also pleased to see that the new science minister's mandate includes the examination of options to strengthen the recognition and support for fundamental research.
For years, CAUT has been raising concerns about the former government's direction in science policy that favoured narrowed commercial interest at the expense of basic research and the broader public interest. It is now clear that this strategy has not delivered the promised investments in jobs and Canada is falling behind other developed countries in science and innovation. More needs to be done to rebuild Canada's research capacity, starting with more investment in basic research.
An infusion of $3 billion of new research and development money would be needed in this country right now to bring us back to what was spent in 2006. Now is the time for the federal government to invest in Canada's knowledge infrastructure and boost Canada's scientific capacity.
More precisely, CAUT recommends that in this year's budget, the federal government invest an additional $250 million, $350 million the following year, and $500 million in three years in base funding for basic research to the three research granting councils. It should do so while ensuring research funding provided through Canada's research granting councils and decisions about priorities, projects, programs, and scholarships are made using peer-review processes by the scientific committee on the basis of merit.
We also recommend the federal government reinvest significantly in its own research. The former federal government cut about $1 billion and 4,000 jobs from government science programs. This has reduced the ability of the government's scientists to provide independent and reliable data, and to serve the public interest.
Finally, we believe that the Parliament of Canada would strongly benefit from a parliamentary science officer, or PSO. The PSO would be an independent officer of the Library of Parliament who would report to the Senate and the House of Commons. His or her role would be to provide advice and analysis to Parliament about the adequacy and effectiveness of the nation's science policy, priorities, and funding.
Investment in our knowledge infrastructure cannot happen in a vacuum. It must be combined with improved access to and participation in post-secondary studies.
In 1990, public funding represented up to 80% of the operating revenue of universities, compared to just under 50% in 2014. This step backward largely has to do with the reduced federal funding transfers to the provinces from the 1990s on.
The CAUT is urging the federal government to work with the provinces in order to develop and implement a national post-secondary education strategy, with one of the pillars being increased funding to overcome all obstacles, including financial ones, to access to and participation in post-secondary education.
The CAUT recommends that the Canadian social transfer be replaced by separate stand-alone funds for social services and post-secondary education. A new transfer for post-secondary education should be included in legislation on post-secondary education, modelled after the Canada Health Act, outlining the responsibilities and expectations of each administration, establishing national guidelines, enacting enforcement mechanisms and, above all, providing stable and long-term funding formulas.
Let me conclude by saying that the rising tuition fees have placed a disproportionate burden on students, especially on Canada's indigenous students. Funding provided to band councils to support First Nations students has remained flat despite the soaring tuition fees and demographic explosion. The result has been that thousands of eligible students remain on waiting lists to get the funding they need to pursue a post-secondary education.
It is time for the federal government to honour its historical commitments to Canada's First Nations by recognizing that education is a treaty right and by providing the necessary financial support.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.