OTTAWA — Agriculture minister Ralph Goodale is rating research as one of his priorities.
After years of complaints from scientists and farmers that governments have spent too little, the new minister has signalled a strong commitment to ag research.
He said in a Jan. 13 interview that when it comes time to cut Agriculture Canada spending, he will do what he can to protect the research budget and perhaps to increase it.
“There might be a tendency in some quarters to think of that as an exotic thing, a bit of a frill that in tough times you can do without,” he said. “In fact, exactly the opposite is true.”
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Goodale said the Canadian food industry can be successful in tougher world trade only if it has the best products and processes possible.
“Research is fundamental and it needs to rank very high in what we do in the future.”
The minister cited development of ethanol as a research triumph that needs a bit more work but already has provided a payoff in a new market for farm products, jobs and a fuel that is easier on the environment.
He said he has “not yet had the tough conversation I expect I’ll have at some point with the minister of finance” but when the order comes to cut costs, the research budget will not be on the list.
“If you are inconsistent in your research objectives or your research funding, you can do long-term damage,” he said. “I would like to be able to reallocate resources within the department of agriculture should that prove necessary … to make sure that vital things like research don’t get fundamentally undermined in the process of reworking the budget.
“I actually would like to see the situation (funding levels) improved. That may be a bit ambitious in the short run in the face of necessary restraint but the fundamental objective for the long term has to be to increase research and development.”
