Peace, Order, and Good Governance, eh

References to Canada in the US media usually vary from Igloo gothic wilderness bites to how bad the outpatient queues are in Soviet Canuckistan.  Satisfying to read something about the value of pragmatic common sense in governance.

Fareed Zakaria | Newsweek.com.
Guess which country, alone in the industrialized world, has not faced a single bank failure, calls for bailouts or government intervention in the financial or mortgage sectors. Yup, it's Canada. In 2008, the World Economic Forum ranked Canada's banking system the healthiest in the world. America's ranked 40th, Britain's 44th.


Canada has done more than survive this financial crisis. The country is positively thriving in it. Canadian banks are well capitalized and poised to take advantage of opportunities that American and European banks cannot seize. The Toronto Dominion Bank, for example, was the 15th-largest bank in North America one year ago. Now it is the fifth-largest. It hasn't grown in size; the others have all shrunk.


So what accounts for the genius of the Canadians? Common sense.

Genome Canada cut good for science?

Chris Hogue weighs in and makes an excellent point about co-funding.  GC only provides 50 cent dollars, and the other 50 will be harder to find over the next few years.  Redirection of research funds to labs and other funding mechanisms may be a prudent way forward.

BioImplement: Market Driven Science in Crisis?.
While it is certain that many Genome Canada funded scientists have become international leaders in their fields, one problem is that Genome Canada has no long-term strategy to fund these projects. Industry partnered three-year projects with no provision for renewal are the staple of Genome Canada's co-funding strategy.
 
Expectations of commercial spin-offs and an market-driven afterlife is the fairy-tale ending for Genome Canada's approach to science. Yet the horizon for success in life sciences research can be longer than a decade. So, sadly, when a researcher becomes an international leader, Genome Canada has no strategy to keep them in that position, economic downturn or not.
Genome Canada is a market-driven organization.


Perhaps it is reasonable to expect that co-funding – the money contributed by industry to the Genome Canada funding scheme – will simply dry up during this recession. By its own design, Genome Canada cannot hand out its money without co-funders. If Genome Canada has no hope of attracting co-funding this year, then this budget may in fact (gasp) be a reasonable one.