Manitoba researchers report financing cuts after Premier’s invitation to the United States Scientists

A call by Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew for scientists in the United States to consider moving here has researchers in this province asking for more funding to give those who move a reason to stay.

In an open letter to the provincial government, dozens of scientists, researchers and academics have questioned how it plans to attract new talents, data cuts in the agency responsible for providing most of the funding for research in Manitoba.

“Manitoba is currently in Canada for provincial funding per capita – a harsh reality that contradicts the recent enthusiasm of the government to attract international researchers,” says the letter, which had received almost 250 signatures on Monday evening.

The letter was stimulated by the comments that Kinew made during a fray with journalists in the legislative building on March 28th. He said that the Province planned to commit himself to awareness of US scientists, many of whom have faced funding and restrictions on their academic freedom under the administration of President Donald Trump.

“And what I would say is, come to Manitoba,” said Kinew.

Those comments aroused conflicting reactions from Manitoban such as Robert Beattie, a professor assistant at the Department of Biochemistry and Medical Genetics at the University of Manitoba and the main author of the letter.

He says that the cuts in search of Manitoba – that finances the studies on health, natural and social sciences, engineering and humanities – have started under the previous progressive conservative government, but the recent budgets have done very little to reverse the trend. If adequate to inflation, funding for the agency decreased by almost 60 %, from over $ 31 million in 2016, to $ 13 million in 2023.

The 2025 budget includes an increase of $ 100,000 for Manitoba research.

Beattie says that he and the others in the province would welcome new research talents from the south of the border, but fears that a lack of available funding will limit the amount of manitoba that can benefit from opportunities.

“It is difficult to predict how we can welcome new researchers in the province when we are already fighting to keep the current ones here,” he said in an interview.

Dylan Mackay, another signatory of the letter, has faced the consequences of the funding cuts of the province.

“I started my independent career in 2018 … and just as I was coming in the time when I could apply for this (financing), the pool of money for which I could request abandonment of over 50 %,” said Mackay, who seeks nutrition and chronic diseases at the U of M.

Mackay worked on the recruitment committees and had difficulty holding positions while candidates place opportunities in other provinces.

“Research is like a seed, right? You need good soil and care and the right environment to obtain that maximum potential. And it has not been like this in the last 10 years … the soil has dried up.”

The minister plans to meet the researchers

Advanced Minister of Education Renée Cable told the CBC News that he intends to meet the researchers on Tuesday morning. He said that increasing research financing is a priority for the provincial government.

“I know that the objectives in the last two years have been to stop the bleeding as we have seen a kind of government, the previous administration has cut and cut and cut a little more,” said Cable.

“(Current financing) It may not seem enough. We are happy that we stopped the cuts now and we are moving in the right direction.”

In the letter, Beattie writes that financing research is a valid investment for governments, which produces at least $ 4 for each $ 1 invested.