Canadian Academies of Sciences back on track as PM OKs funding

NSA champions new body

Canada’s new National Science Advisor (NSA) is wasting no time making his mark on the national S&T landscape with the announcement of the Canadian Academies of Science (CAS) in the prime minister’s reply to the Speech from the Throne (SFTT). The decision to create the CAS was the high point of an unspectacular but encouraging SFTT and reply in which R&D, S&T and innovation maintained their places on the government’s agenda (see page 3).

Prime minister Paul Martin announced that the CAS will be arm’s length from government and will receive $35 million in operational funding over the next 10 years. Funding is expected to flow beginning April 1/05, pending successful negotiations with Treasury Board. Martin’s reply asserted that the CAS “will be a source of expert advice on scientific aspects of important domestic and international issues” as well as giving Canada a bigger voice on the international stage.

Proponents of the CAS worked closely with NSA Dr Arthur Carty over the summer months and say it’s his support that was crucial in the government’s decision to revive and endorse a proposal that was last floated more than four years ago. At that time, the proposal was marshaled by Dr William Leiss, then-president of the Royal Society of Canada and a professor of policy studies at Queen’s Univ.

“The National Science Advisor is the key reason it was revived … Arthur (Carty) became the champion within government and he persuaded the Prime Minister to champion it as well,” says Leiss, who acted as liaison between the NSA and three academics that will comprise the CAS.

The CAS has already been incorporated as a federal not-for-profit entity with members that act essentially as shareholders. Six members will be nominated by the three participating academies — the Royal Society of Canada, the Canadian Academy of Engineering and the Canadian Institute of Academic Medicine (soon to be the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences). The other six will be drawn from the public at large. Once a board is formed over the next month, a selection process for the CAS presidency will begin.

“This is going to be good for Canada. It brings us into the mainstream where other countries have similar arrangements,” says Carty. “We’re looking to this to find the underlying science to help the government make its decisions. There are many clients for such expert assessment and most will likely be the federal government itself.”

The bulk of the work envisioned for the CAS is the formation of expert panels to provide advice on pressing matters that require scientific input such as environmental and health issues. The Royal Society of Canada has been commissioned to establish several expert panels in recent years but it lacks the organizational structure to handle them on an ongoing basis.

“Expert panels are very tricky things to manage and deliver on successfully, as I discovered when I was with the Royal Society,” says Leiss. “With the Canadian Academies of Science, we can develop staff expertise and the NSA is a very efficient route to reach other departments and agencies. Carty thought there was a commonality of interest between the Academy and his office.”

Carty agrees and says his office is happy to facilitate information flows to and from the government. But he stresses that the CAS will be a neutral body in terms of the advice it dispenses.

“The government will flow requests through my office and vice versa but I would not modify or change the assessments of the Academies,” he says. “Its reports will stand on their own and be independent.”

Although the prime minister’s reply to the SFTT suggests that the CAS will receive long-term operational funding, Carty says it’s still uncertain whether the government will establish an endowment.

“We’ll see what Treasury Board has to say. Maybe the endowment route is not the favoured route,” he says.

Leiss agrees that the original idea for an endowment is no longer as attractive as it once was.

“The return on investment for endowments is awful these days. It would require more than $100 million, “ he says. “If we can’t demonstrate clear worth in ten years, then we probably don’t deserve more money. We need to show the value.”

The CAS has the added benefit of providing Canada with an official international voice when dealing with scientific issues that have global implications. Virtually every industrialized nation and many developing countries already have similar bodies to provide independent advice. Throughout the 1990s, Canada’s reputation on the international stage deteriorated as budget cuts weakened scientific linkages to other countries and Canadian delegations were dwarfed at international science events.

“Canada must be a player at these international fora,” says Carty. “Many of the issues it will deal with will be world issues.”

The Royal Society of Canada and the Canadian Academy of Engineering are established bodies with long histories but the “third leg” of the CAS — the Canadian Institute of Academic Medicine (CIAM) — is much smaller and has a relatively narrow focus. Leiss says that once the CIAM morphs into the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, it will have a far broader representation.

“The change is happening as we speak. Two years ago we informed the CIAM that it had to broaden its range of disciplines. When the process is complete (under the guidance of Dr Paul Armstrong), it will include areas such as animal health and nursing.

LONG DIFFICULT HISTORY

Th CAS has endured a rocky road since it was placed on the legislative agenda in 2000 at the urging of Leiss and Dr Tom Brzustowski, president of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council. The cause was taken up by Dr Gilbert Normand, then secretary of state for science, research and development. The proposal gained traction over the next two years and was the subject of a Memorandum to Cabinet as well as prominent mention in documents relating to the innovation strategy.

In 2002, however, the CAS proposal vanished from sight — a development that coincided with Normand’s removal from the secretary of state position and the inability of the government to implement all elements of the innovation strategy. Leiss says that in 2002, the CAS had become a quasi official proposal but then it “just stalled”, a victim of changing ministers at Industry Canada and the absence of an inside champion. Subsequent efforts to revive it by Dr Howard Alper, Leiss’s successor at the RSC, were unsuccessful.

“Alper tried to keep the flame alive but there was no clear path,” says Leiss. “He never stopped pushing for the Academy. We’ve talked weekly about it for the past four years.”

Now that the CAS is about to become a reality, Leiss says the next few months will be devoted to preparing the membership and various oversight committees to make it work.

“Once it’s in the bag, we can hit the road running.”

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