I keep seeing people post that Canadian universities should scoop up all the American academics who are losing their research funding. I’m guessing these people have no idea what’s going on in Canadian universities after decades of deliberate underfunding. - ThreadSky

compulsiveobserver.bsky.social • 14 days ago

I keep seeing people post that Canadian universities should scoop up all the American academics who are losing their research funding.
I’m guessing these people have no idea what’s going on in Canadian universities after decades of deliberate underfunding.

Comments

compulsiveobserver.bsky.social•14 days ago

Both the university I’m doing my PhD at and the one where I teach are undergoing *significant* cuts.
At the first, I now need to pay for access to the facility I need to do my work because support staff has been cut and outsourced.

compulsiveobserver.bsky.social•14 days ago

Nevermind that if Poilievre wins, we can expect a major attack on Canadian universities. He’s our own Dollarama Trump.

compulsiveobserver.bsky.social•14 days ago

It’s weird because I’m seeing Canadian academics post this too, as if they are unaware of the house of cards that Canadian institutions are built on after decades of cuts and freezes and relying on international students to fill the funding gaps.

4gabriel.bsky.social•14 days ago

Sounds like yall are hot on our heels -hope you don’t fall into the same holes this country did 🙏

compulsiveobserver.bsky.social•14 days ago

It’s looking bad right now, that’s for sure.

symbo1ics.bsky.social•14 days ago

Ford is precisely the same

therealkenwilson.bsky.social•14 days ago

I love “Dollarama Trump.” Isn’t that the American chain? Either way it’s great.

compulsiveobserver.bsky.social•14 days ago

It’s a Canadian chain! Made in a
Québec!

therealkenwilson.bsky.social•14 days ago

Right! It's Dollar Tree that's American.

The name would work either way. Thanks for it.

macg1llivray.bsky.social•14 days ago

My sis is a physician recruiter and basically

starfeign.bsky.social•14 days ago

Also, "scooping up American talent" as if there isn't enough wickedly talented Canadians who probably should be in those positions (if they existed)

jalene-lamontagne.bsky.social•14 days ago

Many Canadian scientists had to leave Canada in the past due to a lack of job opportunities at home.

compulsiveobserver.bsky.social•14 days ago

The Canadian academic precariat is vast indeed. I feel bad for anyone losing their job or stability, but Canada doesn’t have the capacity to be the US’s backup. Our institutions are hardly holding on.

beetleboo.bsky.social•13 days ago

I'd settle for the Canadians coming home.

pennyflynn.bsky.social•14 days ago

All universities in the West have been corrupted by capitalism.

sharongriffin.bsky.social•14 days ago

A good wake up call to reverse course

candidwoods.bsky.social•14 days ago

We're having a weimer Republic moment on this continent,in that decades of steady improvement&activism lead to an eroding of elite power to such a degree that they go full out in blatantly dominating&repressing the populace,which leads to the destruction of the very thing they said makes us superior

schultzodessey.bsky.social•14 days ago

The idea isn't a terrible one. It's what America did for many years. It's brain draining America. America did it to the Germans during WW2. You would essentially invest heavily in Science and Technology. I'd be a boon to Canada. Yeah id take outside the box thinking. However Canada would be stupid

schultzodessey.bsky.social•14 days ago

not to at least back channel the idea. You'd flip the balance of scientific power within 5 years and grow your economy.

compulsiveobserver.bsky.social•14 days ago

I agree it would be smart to do this, but if we had visionary leadership we wouldn’t still have a ressource extraction based economy.

schultzodessey.bsky.social•14 days ago

Well you're under threat. Id suggest that Ford/Pierre and company put aside populism and think about things differently. You'll still need that economy in place till you onboard your new brain trust which can help you transition away from it. Plus you all better buckle the F up because

schultzodessey.bsky.social•14 days ago

Musk won't stop. Knee cap him while you can.

beetleboo.bsky.social•13 days ago

This is so important to say.
We need to see what's happening below us and do the opposite of what they are doing.
More funding! More support! We need to be a safe haven for research and innovation.

nsharma101.bsky.social•14 days ago

Yeah, “Canada” looms as large in US mythology (as a nice, safe, easy to immigrate to place) just as much as “The United States” does in Canada.

Both feed off one another and keep the larger myth of separate, isolated nation-states alive.

l-laidlaw.bsky.social•14 days ago

Yes. Kind of hard with a hiring freeze at my Canadian institution.

silviaalexandra.bsky.social•14 days ago

It's the same in Australia and the UK.

patapom.bsky.social•14 days ago

And France too! We´ve quickly caught up on the Reagan and Thatcher years so dearly missed by our own neoliberals here... 😓

silviaalexandra.bsky.social•14 days ago

Sad to hear it's spread beyond the anglosphere. Truly neoliberalism is a sickness that kills everything it touches.

chrissmithmuso.bsky.social•14 days ago

Seeing a similar pattern w/r/t UK universities and "scooping up" Americans. Same problems in the UK.

compulsiveobserver.bsky.social•14 days ago

From what I’ve read the situation in the UK sounds dire.

chrissmithmuso.bsky.social•14 days ago

Yes. That's what I hear as well.

simondheyes.bsky.social•14 days ago

Australian universities feeling the pinch too.

americantype.bsky.social•14 days ago

All the anglophonic nations ( I know Canada is also francophonic) looked at the US system where the user pays more and more for less and less and thought this is a great idea.

simondheyes.bsky.social•14 days ago

Hopefully our governments aren't still looking at them and thinking what's happening is a great idea. I know our opposition is

chrissmithmuso.bsky.social•14 days ago

Yes.

paulwalde.bsky.social•14 days ago

It’s been a constant sh*t show since I started teaching. Every year brings new hardship absorbed by faculty and staff at the expense of student experience. Universities are another casualty of neo-liberal corporate “efficiency”.

compulsiveobserver.bsky.social•14 days ago

It’s so frustrating because things could be good in we actually invested in them, we aren’t a poor country, our institutions don’t need to be in constant austerity mode.

zosto.bsky.social•14 days ago

Something like this, right?

compulsiveobserver.bsky.social•14 days ago

That’s why I went back to school, for the untold riches.

jik666.bsky.social•14 days ago

It would be great if we could think of an out-of-the-box idea that would work for Canada and Canadians. Unfortunately I've got nothin'. 🤷

patapom.bsky.social•14 days ago

Vote for the left? Or is that too out-of-the-box maybe? I don´t know anymore... 😅

jik666.bsky.social•14 days ago

Exactly.🤷

rogerthegs.bsky.social•14 days ago

Same in UK, Europe, Oz

jaylalonde.bsky.social•13 days ago

Also no idea how for the overwhelming majority of academic jobs, Canadian citizens and permanent residents get priority in hiring, regardless of who the most qualified candidate is.

bigfishstone.bsky.social•14 days ago

This is a very nice place where a bunch of ministries could put money into SSHRC and maybe fund a few research chairs.

jagbsn.bsky.social•14 days ago

It's not realistic as it stands, but the fantasy is a massive reinvestment in universities to rebalance what's been/being destroyed, not just hiring Americans to displace Canadians in the broken system as it currently exists. It's a vision of unlikely possibility.

compulsiveobserver.bsky.social•14 days ago

I don’t believe there is any political will with any party to reinvest in our universities, but I have a pretty pessimistic nature.

jagbsn.bsky.social•14 days ago

I don't think there is either right now, but if we want to change anything for the better at all we need to be able to imagine possibilities

compulsiveobserver.bsky.social•14 days ago

I want to, but for the time being I have no idea if I will have either of my jobs in the fall.

jagbsn.bsky.social•14 days ago

fair enough. i'm just laying around on indefinite unpaid sick leave thinking about things with an irradiated brain

compulsiveobserver.bsky.social•14 days ago

*hugs*

barbaragirouard.bsky.social•14 days ago

I’ve watched how financial institutions have pushed for Registered Education Savings Plans over the past 3 decades because their messaging was university tuition is increasing. The part they glossed over was that these financial institutions encouraged politicians to cut funding for universities.

compulsiveobserver.bsky.social•14 days ago

Interesting, I wasn’t aware of that. The corruption runs deep.

barbaragirouard.bsky.social•14 days ago

It wasn’t obvious, there were training materials for RESP salespeople 35+ yrs ago with 📈s and such to illustrate the rising cost of secondary education. My thoughts are the zeitgeist then was to offload the cost of education onto the students/workers, many corporations cut back on in-house training.

waynemateri.bsky.social•14 days ago

This is all (unintentionally) designed into the fiat currency,fractional reserve banking, capitalist system. Blow big bubbles, then periodically deflate rapidly. But Carney talks about investing in Canada. Now might be a good time. Ignore the (fictitious, anyway) debt, full speed ahead.

collectivided.bsky.social•14 days ago

the goal of the billionaires seems to be to flood the labor market with just-laid-off STEM personnel, apparently millions of them, and hire them.? Do they think we want to work for them?? Hilarious. Boundless idiocy

Comments

Posting Rules

Reply