The committee that wrote the report said Canadian academic research compared unfavorably with work done in the United States. It recommended a more selective funding structure that would bolster top-notch programs and allow them to compete internationally. It acknowledged that the policy would hurt smaller departments, whose faculty would receive fewer, smaller grants.
But its assumptions and conclusions have been attacked by researchers and the nation's major grant-awarding body, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC). In 1981 NSERC joined with the Canadian Council of University Chemistry Chairmen (CCUCC), Chemical Institute of Canada (CIC) and Royal Society of Canada in inviting 10 prominent chemistry professors to "chart future directions for chemistry in Canada and identify the associated requirements for financial resources." The panel was led by Howard C. Clark of Daihousie University and James A. Morrison, formerly of McMaster University.
The report, Towards Excellence in Chemistry, appeared last September ...
