The most recent Big Thinking lecture "Reason versus passion in politics" was presented on Tuesday by Joseph Heath, Director, Centre for Ethics, and Professor, Department of Philosophy and School of Public Policy and Governance, University of Toronto. This lecture addressed "reason versus passion" in politics and what we are sacrificing when we allow our political system to be dominated by appeals to passion rather than reason. Léo Charbonneau, editor at University Affairs, reflected on Heath's talk in his article “Emotion should not rule over reason in politics” (University Affairs).
And just maybe, reason in politics did prevail this week… To the applause of many postsecondary leaders in Canada, the federal budget was announced the same day revealing the Government's commitment to significantly increase investments in research, innovation and learning. In response to the budget, the Federation published its media release, whose sentiments were visibly echoed across the country:
- Universities delighted to get $1.5 billion for research in federal budget (Toronto Star)
- Budget 2014 Demonstrates Support for Canadian Research and Innovation (Research Canada)
- Budget 2014 will position Canada as world leader in research and innovation (AUCC)
- U15 Group of Canadian Research Universities Applauds the Government of Canada for Investing in Research Excellence (U15 Group)
- UBC applauds significant federal research funding commitment in Budget 2014 (University of British Columbia)
- UAlberta president praises 'visionary' investment in research excellence (University of Alberta)
- Federal budget includes significant boost for post-secondary research (Queen's University)
- Federal budget: Increased university research funding (McGill University)
As Canada’s top social science and humanities students and scholars continue to excel in research and leadership, distributing funding and recognizing their contributions continue to be a guiding principle of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). On Monday, it was announced that SSHRC “welcomes nominations of top researchers, students and research partnerships for the 2014 Impact Awards” (SSHRC). Be sure to find out more about the SSHRC Impact Awards and how to nominate a researcher or students between now and May 9, 2014. Winners will be announced in fall 2014.