The federal government has recently come under fire for what critics are calling a lack of funding for post-secondary research.

At the centre of the criticism is the Knowledge Infrastructure Program — a federal initiative, which allocated $2 billion in funding to support infrastructure enhancement at post-secondary institutions as part of Canada’s 2009 economic stimulus plan.

Most of the funds are being spent on deferred maintenance and upgrades such as re-roofing and repairing air conditioning systems, according to a press release from the Canada Association of University Teachers.

“The government is giving all of this money to physical infrastructure and is providing no money for human infrastructure,” James Turk, executive director of CAUT, said.

He criticized the government for misrepresenting what the KIP funding would be used towards. By the end of October, only 41 per cent of the funding had been used for research-related infrastructure, according to CAUT.

However, on Industry Canada’s website, an outline of eligible projects for KIP funding includes upgrades to building systems associated with research laboratories such as heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems.

At Western, KIP funding went towards paying for half of the new $100 million Richard Ivey School of Business building — a choice ultimately made by the government, not Western.

“All together I think we submitted six projects to the federal government, and they chose the ones they wish to support,” Fred Longstaffe, vice-president academic, said.

Although Longstaffe is grateful for the funds the University received, for some professors at Western this is not enough.

“The buildings aren’t very useful unless you have qualified people working in them,” noted James Compton, vice-president of Western’s faculty association.

Another concern raised by CAUT is the lack of funding for research might drive away Canada’s top scientists.

“At a time when the [United States] council is spending $13 billion on research […] we’re in real danger in Canada of losing our top scientists,” Turk said.

Scott Ernst, professor and head of the division of medical oncology at Western affirmed he has seen colleagues leave Canada for the United States.

“Very worthwhile projects aren’t getting funded, not because of a lack of scientific merit, but because of the lack of funding,” he said.

In an analysis of the KIP program, the office of the Official Opposition Critic for Infrastructure, Cities and Communities voiced concerns the allocations of infrastructure funding were biased.

The analysis of the KIP program claimed that, in the available national picture, colleges and universities hosted by Conservative MPs were given 33 per cent more on a per student basis than those in Liberal ridings — a gap of almost $250 million.

“The Liberal government would have involved objective people in making [funding] decisions; we would have made them public and transparent […] We would not have built in a partisan bias into knowledge infrastructure,” Opposition critic Gerard Kennedy said.

According to Longstaffe, Western is grateful for any funding it receives from the government.

“It would have been great to get more money to [complete all of Western’s top priority projects], but you can look at it as the cup half full or half empty; I’m just grateful we got the funding that we did,” he said.

Industry Canada, which oversees the Knowledge Infrastructure Program, could not be reached for comment as of Wednesday evening.