OTTAWA—Up to 15,000 medical research staff across the country face layoffs this week because they fall through the cracks of all the aid programs offered by the federal government. Hospital-based labs scrambled to safely wind down research operations or to switch to coronavirus research, with many workers jumping into the race to find therapies or a COVID-19 cure. But Wouters told a Commons health committee last week that “based on a technicality,” many of the thousands who are not working on COVID-19 don’t qualify for the federal wage subsidy. So there remains a significant funding gap as the COVID-19 pandemic disrupts that research, and all the usual sectors that used to contribute to it. Asked by the Star why those workers are not a priority, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau insisted Wednesday his government has supported scientific research during the coronavirus outbreak.

Source: thestar May 13, 2020 21:56 UTC