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Federal government spends money on science

The opinion that the Conservative federal government is “anti-science” is easily refuted.

To the Editor,

Re: Let farmers decide what seeds to sow, Opinion, April 1.

The opinion that the Conservative federal government is “anti-science” is easily refuted. Statistics Canada reports that the government has increased federal research and development funding by 15 per cent to over $6 billion annually since taking office in 2006.

All other research funding sources – provincial, business, higher education, non-profit and foreign – increased their expenditures by only three per cent during the same period. Increasing R&D spending five times faster than all other funding sources combined is hardly the behaviour of an “anti-science” government.

Barton JessupGabriola Island