(AFP) – Canada on Tuesday launched a CAN$1.7 billion ($1.2 billion) program to recruit leading global researchers, part of the effort to poach intellectual talent looking to leave the United States because of President Donald Trump’s policies. Top Canadian institutions — including the country’s largest hospital network and the University of Toronto — have previously announced multimillion dollar strategies to recruit experts whose work has been impacted by Trump’s broad cuts to scientific research. Canada’s federal government has now joined this effort, in what it called “one of the largest recruitment programs of its kind globally.”
The plan is not strictly catered to US-based researchers impacted by Trump. A statement from the ministries of industry and health says the goal is “to attract and support more than 1,000 leading international and expatriate researchers,” including French speakers. But asked by AFP at a press conference on Tuesday if scientists alienated by the president would be targeted for recruitment, industry minister Melanie Joly said, “some countries are turning their backs on academic freedom. We won’t do that.”
The recruitment effort would be global, she said, but added: “We know that many people south of the border are raising their hands and are already showing interest. Our universities have already started having these conversations.” Experts have warned that Trump’s policies could trigger major shifts in the global competition to hire some of the world’s brightest minds, which for decades has been dominated by deep-pocketed US universities backed by robust federal funding. Trump’s funding cuts have impacted a range of research projects, and studies that involve climate change or diversity, equity and inclusion have been heavily affected.
The European Union also made a push to draw US researchers, announcing an incentives package worth €500 million ($582 million) earlier this year to make the 27-nation bloc “a magnet for researchers.” Joly said a priority would be to encourage leading Canadian researchers working abroad to return. “I think that for a long time in Canada, we’ve talked about brain drain,” Joly said, voicing hope the country would now be able to “bring our people back home.”
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