OSPN Welcomes Key Research Investments in the 2025 Federal Budget

OTTAWA, ON – The Ottawa Science Policy Network (OSPN) applauds the Government of Canada’s commitment, in the 2025 federal budget, to bolstering innovation, talent and research development in Canada. These measures importantly support OSPN’s mandate to support graduate students in Ontario.

The budget’s reaffirmation of investments in innovation capacity, science and research infrastructure sends a strong signal to Canada’s knowledge ecosystem. For example, federal commitments to digital research infrastructure, research chairs and emerging-talent supports (as outlined by ISED and other agencies) provide a critical foundation for graduate students, including those in Ontario. These investments reinforce the ecosystem in which Ontario-based Master’s and PhD candidates operate, providing stronger national backing for evidence-informed policy-making, talent retention and research opportunities.

While research and innovation receive targeted support, there remains a relative absence of dedicated, large-scale funding explicitly tied to long-term environmental research, ecosystem resilience and climate-change science. Given that climate change is one of the defining scientific and policy challenges of our time, this omission signals a missed opportunity. Moreover, while graduate and early-career researcher supports are reinforced, the budget does not appear to include inflation-adjusted, indexed, stable increases for graduate talent or scholarships (a concern flagged in OSPN’s recent submission). Finally, although research infrastructure is referenced, the broad trend of federal S&T expenditures showed a decline of –3.7% in 2024-2025.

Compared to the 2024 budget, which made encouraging strides in research talent and infrastructure, the 2025 budget sustains a strong emphasis on innovation but appears more incremental in its support for early-career researchers and less clearly focused on the climate-research portfolio. For example, the 2024 budget committed $825 million over five years for masters, doctoral and post-doctoral awards. The 2025 budget continues support for research infrastructure but lacks a similarly prominent new tranche of graduate-student funding or dedicated climate-science initiatives. As a result, while the innovation agenda is forward-looking, the gap in graduate-talent support and climate-research remains more evident in this year’s budget.

Only by investing in the next generation of researchers and ensuring the science-policy system is fully resourced can we build a resilient, inclusive and globally competitive innovation economy.

Contact: Alexa D’Addario, VP Social Media, Ottawa Science Policy Network,

ottawasciencepolicynetwork@gmail.com

About the Ottawa Science Policy Network (OSPN): OSPN is dedicated to promoting the voices of students in science policy discussions both at the government and university level.

For more information: ottawasciencepolicynetwork.ca

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