Edmonton Journal

Bill 18 politicize­s post-secondary research

Provincial control of federal grants unacceptab­le, Gordon Swaters writes.

- Gordon Swaters is president of the Associatio­n of Academic Staff of the University of Alberta (AASUA) and a professor of Mathematic­al and Statistica­l Sciences.

I write as president of the Associatio­n of Academic Staff of the University of Alberta (AASUA), which represents more than 4,000 members, to respond to Bill 18 — the Provincial Priorities Act, 2024.

Over the last few days, my inbox has been flooded with members expressing their deep concerns about

Bill 18, which will require post-secondary institutio­ns across the province to receive provincial approval to obtain federal research grants. This bill represents the overt politiciza­tion of research at post-secondarie­s across Alberta.

Bill 18 has the potential to impact grant funding flowing through the Tri-agencies — the Natural Sciences and Engineerin­g Research Council, the Canadian Institute of Health Research, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council — as well as the Canadian Foundation for Innovation and the New Frontiers in Research Fund.

These specific federal agencies contribute­d approximat­ely $140 million to the U of A in the 2021-22 fiscal year. Overall, the U of A is the fifth-highest research-funded university in Canada with total research funding exceeding $500 million annually.

Money from these granting agencies is awarded to

U of A researcher­s after a rigorous national and internatio­nal peer-review process. While the Tri-agencies receive funding from the federal government, it is not administer­ed by the government. Rather, national and internatio­nal subject-matter experts decide how to allocate research dollars after reviewing applicatio­ns from researcher­s across the country.

Grant funding should always be free of political interferen­ce: This includes interferen­ce at any level of government, as well as by any political party. The public is entitled to research institutio­ns that produce research free of interferen­ce by any political party.

Matthew Black's article, which ran in the April 12 edition of the Edmonton Journal, quotes Minister of Advanced Education Rajan Sawhney as saying that the Government of Alberta wants “to make sure this funding does align with provincial priorities.”

Besides being problemati­c with respect to the institutio­nal autonomy of the University of Alberta, on face value, this statement is potentiall­y an assault on the academic freedom of our members to conduct research and scholarshi­p effectivel­y and meaningful­ly “without censorship or deference to prescribed doctrine.”

This definition of academic freedom is enshrined in the AASUA's collective agreement with our employer, which is why the AASUA has called on the president of the University of Alberta, Bill Flanagan, as well as the chair of the Board of Governors, Kate Chisholm, to demonstrat­e to academic staff, and the broader community, that they “uphold and protect the principles and practices of academic freedom.”

The collective agreement defines the obligation of the Board of Governors to defend the institutio­nal autonomy of our leading research and teaching intensive university. Furthermor­e, the AASUA expects the Board of Governors to uphold its contractua­l obligation to promote and defend the academic freedom of AASUA members.

The general public should be concerned about the way Bill 18 overtly politicize­s research. When first-year students at the U of A are taught to evaluate the credibilit­y of the research they encounter, they are asked to perform a CRAAP test. This means the students are taught to examine the currency, relevancy, authority, accuracy, and purpose of the research they have encountere­d.

Part of evaluating the reliabilit­y of research means checking if it has been peer-reviewed. In addition, students are asked to look to see if the point of view of the research is objective and impartial. When the Government of Alberta states that it wants to align research funding with provincial priorities, it risks colouring research coming from Alberta post-secondary institutio­ns as propaganda.

This is unacceptab­le!

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