content would serve as an effective analgesic to the pain of those previously lost dollars. Has CRKN made Canada a smarter, better educated country? No one can answer this question with any certainty, and empirical study will never ever be able to make such a determination. However, it would appear rather obvious that CRKN has been a major contributor in the development of a national research infrastructure. It is unknown what CRKN's future holds. The CFI and CRKN are creations of the former Liberal federal government, whereas Canada is now governed by the Conservative party. However, the Tories are in what we refer to as a "minority government" position (which in the UK is called a "hung Parliament") and, by the time of this article's publication, they could be out of office. Nonetheless, philosophically the Conservatives are less favourably disposed to expensive large-scale national initiatives than were their Liberal forerunners, which makes the survival of the programme beyond its current three-year term somewhat less certain. Conclusion CRKN stands as an example of what collaborative planning on a national scale can accomplish. In Canada it