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Lean Times for BC Health Research Dynamo

Diminished provincial funding for Michael Smith Foundation is 'a step back' says NDP's Dix.

Andrew MacLeod 18 Oct 2011TheTyee.ca

Andrew MacLeod is The Tyee's legislative bureau chief in Victoria. Reach him here.

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Predictable funding wanted: Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research interim president and CEO Bruce Clayman.

In election years, the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research has been a high profile recipient of British Columbia government cash.

This year, as the foundation seeks a new leader and its representatives look for long-term funding, the province is yet to announce a smaller-than-in-the-past contribution it made some five months ago.

Nor is it making any promises for the future.

"What I infer is that we were sufficiently important to health and the health research system to keep us going," said Bruce Clayman, a founding board member of the foundation which was named after the Vancouver-based 1993 Nobel prize winner in chemistry.

Clayman is also the interim president and CEO while the foundation hires a replacement for John Challis, who it parted ways with earlier this year. The foundation funds dozens of people doing a wide variety of medical research each year. The list of 2011 recipients for researchers who are already established, for example, is available here.

"Of course we're hoping to go back to our previous state where we had more resources to do more good things," Clayman said.

Registered to lobby

There have indeed been times when the provincial government made larger, multi-year contributions to the foundation.

The first was in 2001, when the NDP government, then in what turned out to be its last few months, provided $110 million. That funding was to be for five years, and in 2004 the Liberal government under Premier Gordon Campbell saw fit to give the foundation another $15 million.

A year later there was a further contribution of $100 million, followed by $30 million more in 2009.

Altogether, that's $255 million over 10 years, money the foundation uses to attract researchers to the province as well as research dollars from the federal government.

Some time around last April, the provincial government made a contribution of $20 million to the foundation, an amount that will keep the foundation going, but not much more, according to Clayman. Nor does it allow the foundation to plan more than a year ahead.

During the summer, the foundation registered Clayman, as well as board member Don Avison, to lobby "various public office holders to seek annualized funding to support the activities of the Foundation." Tyee readers may remember Avison as the chair of a 2007 B.C. pharmaceutical task force who later accepted an advisory role with the drug company Pfizer Global.

Clayman said they've met with various MLAs and ministers over the past few months, which is also what the province's lobbyist registry says.

'Challenging economic times': health minister

B.C. Health Minister Mike de Jong said that while the foundation had lobbied in the past, he wasn't aware of anyone representing their issues right now. Asked about Avison in particular, de Jong said, "don't know."

"There has been a fairly longstanding relationship between the government and the foundation," de Jong said. "They have done very good work and we have been supportive and will try to be in the future."

Asked why this year's funding hasn't been announced yet, de Jong said there's work taking place on the logistics of an announcement and it will be made as soon as possible.

As for the amount being lower than past years, he said, "These are challenging economic times. The pressure that's being felt across government obviously has an impact on some of the agencies we try to support."

The government has yet to announce the funding because it's a reduction from past years, said New Democratic Party leader Adrian Dix. "It's a step back," he said. "In general we've seen a downgrading and an undermining of the long term ability of the foundation to plan."

The foundation does research that is of value in its own right, but also creates good jobs and attracts people to the province. It was surprising that Premier Christy Clark's recently announced jobs plan failed to mention the foundation or research, he said.

The NDP originally funded the foundation for five years and the Liberal government also announced several years of funding at a time up until 2008. Most people agree that's how the foundation should be funded, said Dix. "In my view, it's hurt the foundation, getting away from long term funding."

Funding attracts researchers, dollars

Predictable funding would make a big difference to the foundation, said Clayman. Part of its mandate is to build the capacity for health research in the province and being able to give longer-term grants would help attract and retain top researchers, he said.

Many of the people who take the awards have options and likely still will if funding in Vancouver falls through, he said. But it must give some possible applicants hesitation, he said. "It has to be an impediment in some cases."

Secure funding would also make a difference for the 30 or so staff who work for the foundation, he said. "Staff morale is better if they're sure they have a career path here." There have been people who have left because of the lack of assured funding, he said.

As for the search for a new CEO, Clayman said it has been going well, with six strong candidates on a short list. The unstable funding has so far not been an issue, he said. "That question hasn't come up. I don't know if it will or not."

The foundation's awards allow researchers to attract grants from the federal government. Over the past 10 years, the foundation has helped double the amount of federal research money coming into the province, Clayman said. "In terms of value to the health ministry and the province, we're a gem, we're an asset."

Government representatives say they understand that, he said. "They may say nice things in public and behind the scenes as well," but to show that they need to increase the funding and make it more predictable, he said.  [Tyee]

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