Harold Bjarnason calls it a “chicken-and-egg thing.”
He knows that if he had scientists working in labs it would be easier to attract funding for a $23.3 million research centre in Manitoba.
But before those labs can be set up, there needs to be money for a building and equipment.
Bjarnason learned recently that the Canada Foundation for Innovation will not award $8 million for the research centre he wants to build at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg. The centre would focus research on nutraceuticals and functional foods.
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The money from the foundation would have opened the door to further support from government and private industry.
“I get the impression they prefer to provide funds to research where you already have an established presence,” said Bjarnason, the university’s dean of agricultural and food
sciences.
He said he will look for other funding sources to get the research centre built. The facility would help give Canada an edge in tapping the global demand for nutraceutical and functional foods, he said. A focus of the centre would be on the grains, oilseeds and other plants grown commercially in Western Canada.
With the demand for nutraceuticals and functional foods creating a multi-billion-dollar industry around the globe, Bjarnason thinks now is the time to get the research centre built.
“There’s a need for it. The timing is absolutely right.”
Brandon bureau
Heavy rains in July triggered hundreds of claims for disaster financial assistance in Manitoba.
Close to 300 claims stemmed from damage to homes and other private property across southern Manitoba.
Twenty-two municipalities also submitted claims for damage to
infrastructure such as roads and culverts.
The province cannot yet put a dollar value on the claims.
The cost of the disaster financial assistance program is shared between the federal and provincial governments.
The program provides financial compensation for damages caused by natural disasters not covered by insurance policies.
Manitobans wanting to file claims under the program should contact their local municipal office for information.
