May 24, 2002

The trumpeting of increased funding for the research, science, and technology sector does not seem to match up to the reality on the ground, PSA national secretary Bryce Fleury said today.

"At the same time the Minister was announcing an apparent Budget increase of $33.5 million for public science, the PSA is negotiating with at least two Crown Research Institutes over redundancies of scientists due to cuts in funding, and we anticipate there may be more to come."

"The current funding process applied to the sector treats science like a commodity where you can just pick and choose what you want to buy from one year to the next. It fails to recognise that scientists invest years of training in their specialist field and cannot just move at the drop of a hat as funding priorities shift."

"It is hard to explain to our science members why, when we have a government emphasising the importance of research, science, and technology, they are losing their jobs because of a lack of funding. This is a waste of good science and good scientists."

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