The Liberal government of Jean Chrétien is promising to increase funding to the federal granting councils to provide greater support for graduate studies and research.

The announcement came on Sept. 30 in the federal speech from the throne which also promised major long-term commitments for health care, the environment and urban infrastructure.

CAUT president Victor Catano says that aside from the pledge of more support for graduate students, the throne speech largely reiterates already announced initiatives for Canada's universities and colleges.

"For a throne speech that was supposed to be about building a legacy, there are an awful lot of recycled announcements," Catano stated.

Many of the initiatives outlined in the speech to improve Canada's innovation performance, for instance, are taken directly from the government's white papers on the subject released earlier this year. The throne speech promises Ottawa will "work with universities on the indirect costs of research and on strategies for its commercialization."

The throne speech also confirmed the government's plan to implement a national system for regulating research involving humans, including establishing national research ethics and standards.

In its report issued last year, CAUT's committee of inquiry into the Nancy Olivieri affair recommended a major overhaul of the regulation of research involving human subjects.

"We are pleased to see that the government is taking this issue seriously," Catano said.