A petition worth signing

The underfunding of science and technology in the Tories' so-called Economic Recovery Plan has already been pointed out in the media. But on closer inspection, it may be even worse than we thought. Another item on the Tory hit list is social sicence funding. It seems ridiculous to skew social science research funding toward business, after 20+ years of New Public Management and neoconservatism and neoliberalism. Does Canada really not have enough MBAs?

Manitoba NDP MP Niki Ashton has been circulating a petition to the government that will hopefully correct this telling flaw in the Tory budget.
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To sign the petition: http://nikiashton.ndp.ca/sshrc

Here's Nikki's petition:


To the House of Commons in Parliament Assembled

We, the undersigned residents of Canada, wish to bring to your attention the following: For more than thirty years, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) has been promoting and supporting university-based research and training in the humanities and social sciences. SSHRC funding has been used to complete ground breaking research in countless areas in Canada and around the world. The Federal Budget presented on January 27th contains a sentence that has the potential to halt this kind of research: "Scholarships granted by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council will be focused on business-related degrees". These measures are backward and insulting to the thousands of Canadians that are students and researchers in the social sciences and humanities. THEREFORE, we petitioners are calling upon the government to remove this sentence from the 2009 Budget and ensure that SSHRC funding not be allocated to one specific discipline but to the range of studies in the social sciences and humanities.

http://nikiashton.ndp.ca/sshrc

Niki Ashton is an NDP MP (Churchill) Parliament Hill: House of Commons Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6 Ashton.N@parl.gc.ca Constituency Offices: Thompson Office: 83 Churchill Drive, Suite 307 Thompson, Manitoba R8N 0L6 Hours: 9:00AM - 4:30PM Phone: (204) 677-1333 Fax: (204) 677-1339