Drs. Galea and Saksida wrote a recent opinion piece for the Vancouver Sun discussing the urgent need for increasing funding for health research in Canada.
They point out that "[...] our research community is in jeopardy as Canada sits near the bottom of the G7 nations for research spending by GDP. Canada has decreased spending on research as a percentage of GDP, opposite to many other countries. Similarly, the budget for the main health research funding agency in the U.S. — the National Institutes of Health — has nearly quadrupled since 1995 with a budget of $52 billion. Contrast this with the budget for our main health research funding agency — the Canadian Institutes of Health Research — which has remained relatively static at $1.2 billion. Even when you consider population differences, Canada is underinvesting in health research by 500 percent compared to the U.S. [...] Investing in research will help us prepare for (and avoid) future crises. It will also provide essential training for our youth to support our knowledge- and innovation-based economy."
You can read the full article here.