Over the past 8 years, health research has been an important but declining priority for the federal government. Although most federal research programs receive multi-year funding, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) receives annual funding from the federal government. Because members of Parliament vote annually to determine CIHR’s budget, Daniel R. Clark, Patrick McGrath and colleagues surveyed 101 of 308 Canadian Members of Parliament or their senior aides about their knowledge of and attitudes toward health research, health research funding and CIHR. The survey revealed that most were poorly informed about health research activities, benefits and costs in Canada.
The paper associated with this release can be found at the link below:
http://www.cmaj.ca/pressrelease/pg1045.pdf .
Canadian Medical Association Journal