SSHRC, gradstudents and the Harpieff Budget

I've been lucky enough so far to be funded through my faculty, but there are thousands of PhD and Master students who would not have attended gradschool if it weren't for the highly competitive funding from one of the three major public granting bodies - SSHRC, CIHR and NSERC. Money from these agencies has direct impacts on the quality and quantity of knowledge produced in this country. The initial grad funding from these agencies is the academic kickstart for countless young researchers. Name a significant achievement in Canadian arts, science and health and there is probably at least one public grant recipient directly or indirectly involved.

That's why I REALLY want clarification on this, because it reeks of festering ideological gangrene:

Budget 2009 builds on investments made in the previous two budgets by providing an additional $87.5 million over three years, starting in 2009–10, to the federal granting councils. This funding will temporarily expand the Canada Graduate Scholarships program, which supports Canada’s top graduate students. This includes $35 million for each of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and $17.5 million for the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. These funds will provide for an additional 500 doctoral scholarships, valued at $35,000 each per year for three years beginning in 2009–10, and an additional 1,000 master’s scholarships, valued at $17,500 each for one year, in both 2009–10 and 2010–11. Scholarships granted by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council will be focussed on business-related degrees.

There is no way that line is there by accident. Write your MP.

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(h/t Alison in comments)