MicheLo

Only in Quebec do we file two income tax returns (one Provincial and one Federal), in the rest of Canada (Ontario, BC, etc) people only file one income tax return (the Federal income tax).

To all those wondering about how postdoc fellowships are taxed - If you hold your award in Canada, postdoctoral fellowships are considered taxable income for Federal income taxes only, and not for Provincial income taxes (so if you are in Quebec, you only pay one tax, the Federal income tax). Some funding agencies do not deduce those taxes from your funding (this is how it words for Quebec provincial postdoc awards like FRQSC; they give you one lump sum of 15k every 4 months and you have to manage it, including putting money aside for taxes; SSHRC awards will now be paid through the host institution, so it may be different going forward for SSHRC, but typically you are not taxed at source with external awards). Everyone I know (including myself) who held a postdoc external award in Quebec/Canada had to put a certain percentage of their award aside throughout the year and make sure they had enough money to pay their Federal income taxes every spring. So externally funded postdocs in Canada pay Federal income taxes to Canada (Canada considers you an employee), but we do not pay Provincial income taxes (Quebec, for instance, considers you a student, so no taxes). I hope this helps, it was struggle for me to figure out too at the beginning of my postdoc; note that I am not sure how it works if you hold your award outside of Canada, though.

FRQSC is the one I got in the 2017 competition (what I currently still hold as they also have a renewal 'mobilization des connaissances' competition that you can apply to during your second year of postdoc to give you an extra year of funding). I applied in September 2017 and indicated on the app that I would start postdoc in Sept 2018, but had to defer to Jan 2019 - I submitted my PhD dissertation November 2018 and defended in January 2019 (btw, for FRQSC, you only have to have submitted your thesis to start your postdoc funding; you can defend after your postdoc funding has already started so long as your defense is within the first 4 or so months - they will even reimburse certain travel expenses if your postdoc is not in the province / country in which you got your PhD and you have to travel back to defend).. food for thought

I have loads of experience applying to funding before and after having the degree - for me, it's never really made a difference as to whether I was successful - I submitted my first postdoc funding application to a provincial competition a year and a half before I finished my PhD and it was awarded (even had to defer starting the postdoc funding by 4 months because I submitted my dissertation later than expected; same as you) - I also submitted to SSHRC last year (2.5 years into already funded postdoc and proposed a project that stems from a larger grant on which I am co-applicant), and it wasn't awarded.. so from my experience, it really depends on how your application stacks up to others in your committee - long story short, we are all pretty much in the same boat! Best of luck to you