Last fall CAUT joined with the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada and the Canadian Consortium for Research to propose a series of policy recommendations to the federal government to deal with the funding crisis in university research. This document, Putting Knowledge to Work, was favourably received in governmental circles. The major result was the announcement in the last federal budget of the creation of the Canada Foundation for Innovation designed to provide funding capital of $800 million over the next five years for research infrastructure in universities and associated institutions.

The same three organizations now joined by the Canadian Federation of Students, the Canadian Graduate Council, and the Humanities & Social Sciences Federation have written to Industry Minister John Manley to commend the government for its actions taken last February and now call for "a plan of action for research and development to be implemented for the mandate of (the) government." They invited the Minister to work with them to that end, and advised him that a more detailed document would be forthcoming at the end of August. In the meantime, they urged the Minister to increase the funding of the three federal granting councils which, they said, "is a key part of any federal research strategy."