CSPC 2017

322 – Leveraging Federal Science: How Provinces Can Make a Difference in Strengthening Canadian Knowledge Production 
322 – Miser sur la science au palier fédéral : comment les provinces peuvent contribuer au renforcement de la production de connaissances canadiennes 
Panel Organizer: Anna Buczek, Council of Canadian Academies

In Canada, science is as much a provincial endeavor as it is a national one. Indeed, as the primary funders of universities, provinces are inextricably linked to Canada’s scientific effort. Yet, while both the provinces and federal government play critical roles in supporting science-performing institutions and infrastructure, Canada’s science ecosystem is both complex and remarkably uncoordinated.
Understanding the relationship between, and opportunities for, more explicit federal, provincial and territorial science policy may be a way to leverage federal science for the benefit of the country as a whole.  By bringing a degree of coordination to the Canadian science policy system, such policies would allow provincial governments to better align this essential resource with provincial priorities and provide a strategic framework for building critical mass for federal science investments to the benefit of not just the provinces but also Canadian science.
Few provincial governments, however, have ever been successful at developing or sustaining their own science policy.  With the release of the federal government’s review on fundamental science review in 2017, an important opportunity exists to have a serious conversation about the opportunities for both the provincial and federal governments to help strengthen Canadian research. 
This panel session will begin this important conversation using three questions:

1. Should all provinces be encouraged to develop their own explicit science policies?
2. What are the opportunities that would result from greater pan-Canadian multilevel coordination across the science system?
3. What are the barriers to realizing these opportunities?