Federal science cuts may have ripple effect on universities

The academic community heaved a sigh of relief when the federal budget was unveiled in November 2025. While almost every federal department was asked to cut 15 per cent of its operating expenses by 2030, the budgets of research granting agencies were cut by only two per cent.

Amid this relief, the potential effects on university research of the cuts to scientific departments such as Innovation, Science and Economic Development; Fisheries and Oceans; and Environment and Climate Change passed largely unremarked.

Universities in ‘wait-and-see’ mode

The information about the cutbacks that has emerged so far (see box below) suggests they could affect research programs and infrastructure; access to data; and cultural services.

Robert Asselin, CEO of U15 Canada, said in an email that, above all, he was reassured by the government’s decision to limit the effects of its comprehensive expenditure review on research granting agencies. As to the departmental cuts, whose details remain uncertain, he commented: “We will continue to closely monitor the expenditure review as it develops and assess its potential implications for the research environment.”

Before the budget was released, the organization Support our Science, which advocates for better wages for graduate and post-graduate scholars, sent a letter to MPs noting that Canada committed 1.8 per centof its GDP to research in 2024 — well below the average of 2.7 per cent among OECD nations. 

Several large research universities contacted for this article declined to comment on the departmental cutback, nor did they criticize the cuts when the budget was released. 

Their silence surprises David Robinson, executive director of the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT). “Cutbacks to federal research could put a certain pressure on granting agencies, since there will be less money in the research ecosystem overall.” A robust research ecosystem depends on support for all three pillars — government, universities and the private sector — he argued.

Government-led science in decline

“These cuts to government science are part of a decades-long pattern,” said Vincent Larivière, UNESCO Chair on Open Science at the Université de Montréal. While the federal government both finances university research and carries out its own research projects, “the amount of internal research has declined for almost a century, and that decline has accelerated over the past 40 years,” he said.

Approximately 80 per cent of the scientific articles produced by the Canadian government are developed in collaboration with academic researchers.

Data from a 2018 article cowritten by Dr. Larivière for the scientific journal PLOS One shows that, while governments worldwide accounted for 15 per cent of scientific research articles published in 1980, that number plummeted to five per cent in 2014. Dr. Larivière further noted that about 80 per cent of the scientific articles produced by the Canadian government are written in collaboration with academic researchers.

“The two spheres are highly interdependent,” he said. “Any governmental disinvestment, whether from external research or its own research activities, is likely to be felt in universities.”

Irreplaceable data and infrastructure 

Mr. Robinson shares this concern, pointing out that countless researchers rely on government-collected data, whether compiled by Statistics Canada or obtained from monitoring the oceans, climate or fisheries, to name just a few. Universities also have multiple research partnerships with federal departments.

“The government has research infrastructure — especially labs — that universities simply cannot reproduce,” he said. Yet a recent report by the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC) states that 36 per cent of federal scientific facilities and labs have already exceeded their expected lifespan.

Karine Morin, President and CEO of the Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences (FHSS), is alarmed by the upcoming cuts at Statistics Canada and Canadian Heritage. In January 2026, Statistics Canada announced it would cut 850 jobs, slashing its workforce by more than 11 per cent. Canadian Heritage, meanwhile, has been tasked with pruning $270 million from its budget by 2030.  

“Statistics Canada generates socioeconomic data that is crucial for social science research,” she said. “Cutbacks may hinder the production, distribution, and accessibility of this data.” Statistics Canada already intends to reduce the frequency of its data collection and to curtail the collection of certain information. 

Although Dr. Morin said she understands that the government is trying to tighten its belt under challenging economic conditions, most notably its commercial tensions with the United States, she would like the government to study the repercussions of these cuts more closely. “Cutbacks are often based on economic factors, but it’s important to broaden our perspective when evaluating their potential effects, especially in the field of research.”