Senator Kutcher: With all due respect, Senator Gold, the Canada Excellence Research Chairs program is not funding post-doctoral students, master’s students and PhD students. Given the importance of keeping these positions in Canada, and the fact that these positions are well below the current poverty line — so we have our best and brightest people struggling below the poverty line — will the government reconsider what it overlooked in the 2023 budget, and increase funding to these valuable contributors to the Canadian economy in the fall economic update?

Senator Kutcher: With all due respect, Senator Gold, the Canada Excellence Research Chairs program is not funding post-doctoral students, master’s students and PhD students. Given the importance of keeping these positions in Canada, and the fact that these positions are well below the current poverty line — so we have our best and brightest people struggling below the poverty line — will the government reconsider what it overlooked in the 2023 budget, and increase funding to these valuable contributors to the Canadian economy in the fall economic update?

Senator Gold: Thank you for your question. I wasn’t suggesting for a moment that the Canada Excellence Research Chairs program was for post-doctoral students. Personally, my family and friends provided post-doctoral funding at the University of Montreal in recognition of the needs — and the government is very sensitive to the needs of all members of the research family in Canada, and is committed to ensuring that Canada remains competitive in that regard.

The budget was crafted in circumstances where hard decisions had to be made regarding how much could be spent and where. I’m not in a position to respond to whether the government is reconsidering aspects of the budget implementation act, for example, which is currently in debate in the other place.

But thank you for raising these concerns — they’re important concerns, Senator Kutcher, and I’ll raise the matter with the relevant minister at the earliest opportunity.