I hope Canada can change this.

One challenge has been that many of our best-educated people have left for the US, which has blunted some of the economic trickle-down effects that should accompany publicly-funded research. So we incur the costs but yet not reap the benefits, which dulls public enthusiasm for supporting this.

It’s entirely plausible to me that this system has been upended and think we should reevaluate these choices to consider expanding funding for science not directly tied to industry and short-term benefits. But I don’t think it’ll be as easy as snapping our fingers