The university community has for many years been unable to speak with one voice to the federal government on the importance of federal funding for university research.

The Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC) met in Edmonton this past May for the second National Consultation on Education "Accountability in Education." The university and college sector was very much on the ministers' minds. From one point of view, this was a good thing, for the Edmonton meeting spoke with one voice: the main job of education in this fin-de-siŠcle is to make critically-minded citizens generally educated, practically well-prepared for changing times, and provided with strong foundations in various fields of knowledge.