16^th May, 1999

The Rt. Hon. Jean Chretien

Prime Minister
House of Commons
Parliament Buildings
111 Wellington Street
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6

Dear Prime Minister,

On behalf of the Canadian Society for Brain, Behaviour, and Cognitive Science and of the Canadian researchers funded by NSERC’s GSC 12 (Experimental Psychology), we express our deep appreciation for the significant increase in funding for Canadian science implemented in this year’s budget. The new funds have been devoted to upgrading the stipends of postgraduate students and to bringing current technology within the reach of our best researchers. We are confident that the improved facilities made available through the new funds will help stem the exodus of some of our best minds to other countries, and will ensure that the Canadian public will continue to receive the best that advanced education has to offer.

Within our Discipline, one of the most notable developments kindled by the new funds has been in brain-imaging research, a highly technical and expensive field which hitherto was beyond the means of most Canadian researchers. At a more general level, we have made progress toward adequate support for outstanding young researchers and towards restoring a viable level of support to active researchers whose funding had been eroded in recent years. The response of our research community has been uniformly laudatory and optimistic. Your enlightened budgetary action has been perceived as a key factor in enhancing the training of the next generation of scientists and as a boost to the implementation of cutting-edge research that will keep Canada competitive on the global scene.

Canadian experimental psychologists funded by NSERC have made outstanding contributions which have been put to productive use in the economy, and have impacted positively on the standard of living in Canada and around the world. Amongst them are discoveries relating to the role of catecholamines in recovery from stroke, and learning models of nausea to food after chemotherapy. Canadian vision scientists have advanced our knowledge in such practical endeavours as the design of human-computer interfaces, and our ability to work and orient in space and other hostile environments. These, as well as other Canadian discoveries, have been implemented in biotechnology and industrial applications. Innovative research such as this will continue to be conducted in Canada, thanks to your forward-looking science policies and thoughtful stewardship of Canada’s human capital.

The success of even the most progressive and forward-looking budgetary decision ultimately hinges on the way in which it is carried out. Our membership praises the way in which your science policy is being implemented. Under the guidance of Council and its President, Thomas A. Brzustowski, NSERC is accomplishing this task skillfully, thoughtfully, and with the interest of Canadian science and industry as its overriding consideration. It is acknowledged by researchers around the world that, in NSERC, Canada has by far the most successful and cost-effective funding agency of any nation, and one that has been taken as a model in other countries such as Australia. We express our complete confidence in NSERC’s stewardship of Canadian science. For our part, we renew our expression of gratitude for the recognition of our work, and we pledge to pursue, vigorously and creatively, both our teaching and research endeavours.

Sincerely yours,

Richard Brown Lorraine Allan

President Chair, NSERC GSC 12