Morgan, C. (2009) Higher Education Funding and Policy Trade-Offs: the AUCC and Federal Research under the Martin-Chrétien Era, in B. Doern and C. Stoney (Eds.) Research and Innovation Policy: Changing Federal Government-University Relations. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2009, pp. 59-88 (refereed). Chapter 3 HIGHER EDUCATION FUNDING AND POLICY TRADE-OFFS: THE AUCC AND FEDERAL RESEARCH IN THE MARTIN-CHRÉTIEN ERA Clara Morgan As the two previous chapters have shown, a variety of new federal funding programs and initiatives have been instituted in the last decade to provide a steady flow of research funding to the universities. The purpose of this chapter is to analyze the role that the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC) played in influencing the trajectory of federal research and related policies on universities in the last decade. 1 It also shows some of the tensions and collaborations between the AUCC and other stakeholder interests such as the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) and the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) and among the AUCC’s university member institutions (for example between research- intensive universities). Overall it also shows, as context for the chapters in Part II of the book, that the political process for research and innovation plays out in a pool of limited budgetary resources where other aspects of higher education compete with the demands of researchers. 1 The author is grateful for the assistance provided by Robert Best, Vice-President, National Affairs, with the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada; David Robinson, Associate Executive Director with the Canadian Association of University Teachers; Duncan Watt, Vice-President, Finance and Administration, with Carleton University; Dr. Robert Rosehart, past President of Lakehead University and Wilfred Laurier University; and Dr. Peter Adams, former Member of Parliament for Peterborough. All errors and omissions are solely those of the author.