OIT to wind down as province announces $300M in research infrastructure funding

The Ontario government has agreed to resume matching federal investments in university research infrastructure although it may adopt the Quebec model of pre-screening applications for funding. Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty announced last week that his government would provide $300 million towards matching grants from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), extinguishing growing protests by the university research community that the province was undermining its ability to attract and retain excellent researchers.

“Damage was just narrowly averted. There were no recruits lost and no people left Ontario,” says Jamie MacKay, VP policy and analysis for the Council of Ontario Universities.

The decision to resume matching CFI awards coincides with the decision to end the practice of funneling CFI matching awards through the Ontario Innovation Trust, which was managed by the privately run Innovation Institute of Ontario (IIO). A spokesperson for the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade (MEDT) confirmed that the OIT will be wound down and that funding would be moved back inside the ministry. But she would not elaborate on the OIT’s replacement or the fate of other IIO-managed programs as public consultations are currently underway.

But MacKay says it’s common knowledge in the university research community that funding previously flowing through OIT will now be directed through the new Ontario Research Fund (ORF), which was quietly announced in the latest MEDT estimates (R$, July 16/04). The ORF will also bring the Ontario R&D Challenge Fund and the Premier’s Research Excellence Awards back in-house, effectively ending the previous government’s practice of outsourcing research funding programs.

“The new fund (for infrastructure awards) replaces the OIT which will be wound down,” says MacKay. “It will be part of the Ontario Research Fund, which is an umbrella fund for everything Ontario does for research funding.”

The $300 million announced by McGuinty included $80 million committed in the last provincial Budget and is augmented by $220 million in new money. MacKay says it takes care of CFI matching requirements for the next three years. He adds that a statement to the press by MEDT minister Joseph Cordiano that the new fund allows for “made-in-Ontario decisions” suggests that the Quebec pre-screening model may be adopted.

“It sounds like Ontario will go the pre-screening route,” he says. “I worked for the province for 25 years and I can tell you that there’s no greater irritant that federal programs that have a matching requirement.”

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