No, not ours. Australia‘s.
I don’t want anyone to fall into a sort of reflexive jealousy here. It’s about time an Australian government took science, research, and innovation-based industry seriously. They’re obviously even more exposed to Asian competitors than we are, and the Howard government left the Rudd government with plenty of catching up to do. They’ve started doing that. But while some elements of the Australian strategy will make Canadian scientists’ cheeks burn (such as naming a National Science Advisor, a post abolished here by the Harper government), in many cases the Australians are just turning their attention to areas like federal funding for the indirect costs of research, which Canadian governments of both stripes have begun to fund more than a half-decade ago.
Still, a handy reminder. The world will take these issues seriously whether Canadians do or not.
