Ford blasted for cuts to stem-cell institute

Priorities are ‘misplaced,’ Green party leader says

It’s up to the private sector to bankroll more stem-cell research, says Economic Development Minister Todd Smith, as the Ontario government cuts $5 million in annual funding to an institute investigating groundbreaking treatments for incurable illnesses.

Taxpayer support for the Ontario Institute for Regenerative Medicine — whose projects include developing a therapy to heal the damaged lungs of premature babies on ventilators — will be cut off at the end of next March, leaving it with no financing in a move opposition parties at Queen’s Park dubbed “short-sighted.”

“What we believe is that the previous government was throwing millions of dollars around like crazy and they were not holding anyone accountable to how they were spending that money,” Smith said Wednesday as Premier Doug Ford’s government fights to eliminate annual deficits within five years.

“What we’re going to do is make sure that we’re investing the money where it needs to be invested. What we’ve heard from the life-sciences sector is that a lot of these organizations don’t actually need government money, that the private sector will step up and the private sector is stepping up.”

Critics contrasted the $100,000 in funding for research on the underdeveloped lungs of preemies to an identical amount Natural Resources Minister John Yakabuski announced Tuesday for hunters.

That money will go to a “hats for hides” program through a Peterborough-based business called BRT Provisioners to encourage hunters to hand over hides from their kills “in exchange for a hat or a crest” to make sure “no part of their harvest is wasted,” Yakabuski said in a statement.

“This just shows you that, once again, this government’s priorities are misplaced. Sadly, children that need that research around lung health, they can’t vote and hunters can. So the government is going to listen to them,” Green party Leader Mike Schreiner said.

The lung research by scientist Bernard Thebaud, using stem cells derived from umbilical cords, got $100,000 from the institute to undertake the work needed to get Health Canada approval for a Phase 1 clinical trial. He was hoping to get another grant from the institute to conduct the trial.

There is no other funding in place for the institute and the provincial cut could hurt because seed money is often needed to get research to a point where the private sector will put money into it, said Dr. Duncan Stewart, scientific director of the institute.

“OIRM plays a key role in catalyzing research projects with a high potential for clinical and commercial impact,” he added.