As I said earlier in my remarks, I have done this analysis many times and I would be willing to pass it on to the committee; it is very easy to see what has happened over the last 20 years.
You know, two elements are important. On the one hand, there are the inflation costs, which are particularly important. This year, with inflation at 3.5% this year, or even 4% next year, it will be dramatic. Secondly, there is the pressure on the system. This pressure comes from inflation, but it also comes from growth. Fortunately, we have had quite a lot of growth in the area of PhD students, but not enough to be competitive.
As I said earlier, Canada ranks 28th among OECD countries in terms of the number of master's and doctoral degree holders. As a result of this growth, at about 3.5% per year, the good years for research were from 2002 to 2008—and I had the good fortune and pleasure of being a university president back then. At that time, there was funding following the launch of the Canada Foundation for Innovation, or CFI, the Canada Research Chairs, or CRC, Genome Canada, and so on. There was a lot of potential. We have regressed since then, to the point where we are now at the same level, and even lower, than in 2000.
So there are significant investments to be made in basic research, in the three granting councils, the CFI, and Genome Canada.