The buzz created by a 2017 national science review has faded, prompting calls for a renewed focus on innovation.
With Canada’s relatively small population of 38 million people spread across a vast land area of some 9.88 million square kilometres, the nation’s researchers have access to expansive natural resources. Varied landscapes, such as the Canadian Rockies in the west, the Arctic region in the north, and prairies that run through the provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba in the country’s central-western region, are a major source of discovery and experimentation. The Western Hudson Bay in northeastern Canada, for example, hosts one of the most-studied polar bear populations in the world and the Experimental Lakes Area in northern Ontario offers a natural laboratory setting for investigating threats to freshwater ecosystems, such as oil pipeline spills, algal blooms and agricultural runoff. Read more in Nature.