This issue of RE$EARCH MONEY is the last we will publish in calendar year 2000. And what a year it has been. It all began with word that the parent firm of RE$EARCH MONEY was in bankruptcy and the newsletter had ceased publication.

Now that the crass politicking of a largely unnecessary federal election has run its course, the Liberal government can get down to delivering on the commitments it so earnestly announced in the last couple of months.

Science and technology policies and programs have never been considered good reasons for casting a vote on election day, but the upcoming federal election may change all that (see page 3). S&T has never enjoyed the visibility that it’s receiving during the current campaign, belatedly reflecting S&T’s pervasive influence over all facets of the economy, society and the environment.

It appears as though international S&T has broken through the federal wall of indifference and is about to climb the Liberal government’s priority list of technology issues. Last week saw the long awaited release of the ACST’s report on the issue, containing several strong recommendations for putting Canada back on the international S&T map (see page 3).

Paul Martin’s remarkable challenge to the science and technology community comes at a volatile time in Canada’s evolution towards a knowledge-based economy. With the accelerating pace of technological change and the deep structural shifts in global markets, it takes powerful foresight to recognize which levers to pull to obtain the desired results.

Canada needs another buzz word to further the work by governments, industry and academia to build the nation’s resources for the New Economy. Productivity was the popular catch word a couple of years back, only to be replaced by innovation, which has helped galvanize the thinking of those in sectors with disparate motives.

Canada has an opportunity to correct a serious misstep and get back in the game of fusion research. The not-for-profit ITER Canada is mounting an impressive campaign to convince the international fusion research community that this country would be the ideal locale for the proposed $6 billion Fusion Research and Development Centre (see page 5).

Canada’s medical research enterprise is on a roll. Seemingly every day, a major new development takes place that provides one more building block in a national edifice of research, development and exploitation that bodes extremely well for the future.

Look what’s happening to the city so many Canadians love to hate. Historically burdened with a litany of pejorative nicknames associated with its status as the seat of political power, Ottawa is redefining its image into that of a technology powerhouse (see lead article).