Obviously you are overly sensitive on this subject, ChanEcon, because this response is very garbled, especially for one with a first sentence asserting yourself as purveyor over what may and may not be said on public forums. Good for you, Monsieur King Pin of the gradcafe forum.
First off: by 'SSHRC people' who 'forward,' I presume you are referring either to the members of your own graduate studies' committee that A-list you, or to whomever is involved in the first round of SSHRC cuts for external applicants in the early winter? It's terribly unclear. And how exactly does the statement "as long as the SSHRC people thought that whatever you were doing (*had*) the slightest application to business, you were forwarded... lots of people outside of business got that money" argue for proportional distribution? Because apparently english, history, geography, philosophy, classics, psychology, etc... majors everywhere should cater exclusively to industry and business related applications when considering what to focus on for their thesis work. Apparently that should be the sole concern of all of the applied AND basic research done in the entire gamut of departments in social science/humanities-related academia.
Obviously it's a worthwhile subject area... but come on.
Anyway, sorry for the ass response, but this is the second post of mine you have (inarticulately, I might add) shat on. Get another hobby.
My original post was intended to be somewhat cheeky and self-depricating and to lend support to someone in a business related field who was stressed about their application. If you talk to (most any) philosophy major, you'd see self-deprication is a significant part of our (rather limited) stodgy and growchy charm... along with wearing tweed blazers and correcting other people's grammar...
In any case, I am also in Ottawa for the summer, and so will likely be one of the first to get my letter next week. If that does happen, I will post to let the rest of you know when it arrives. Good luck to all of you!