Tracking the Canadian War on Science

A clearing house and holding area for candidate items for this blog post: http://scienceblogs.com/confessions/2013/05/20/the-canadian-war-on-science-a-long-unexaggerated-devastating-chronological-indictment/ As well as items of general interest to Canadian science policy advocates. Comments & suggestions for items to [email protected].

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GATINEAU, QC, March 31, 2015 /CNW/ - Suzanne Legault, Information Commissioner of Canada, tabled a special report in Parliament today that proposes an in-depth reform of the Access to Information Act. "There has been a steady erosion of access to information rights in Canada over the last 30 years" said Commissioner Legault. "Although the Act was intended to shine a light on government decisions, it has become a shield against transparency and has encouraged a culture of delay." The special report contains 85 recommendations that propose fundamental changes to the Act which would resolve recurring issues and strike the right balance for transparency. Some of the key points contained in the report are aimed at creating a culture of openness by extending coverage of the Act to all branches of government, setting tighter timelines in the processing of requests, maximizing disclosure by ensuring that exemptions protect only what is strictly necessary, and strengthening the oversight of the access to information regime.

Canadian NewsWire, Stopping the erosion of access to information in Canada - The Information Commissioner's recommendations to modernize the Access to Information Act

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Documents obtained by DeSmog Canada reveal that Canada’s Ministry of Environment vetoed an interview request on toxins in fur-bearing animals in the oilsands, even though the federal scientist was “media trained and interested in doing the interview.” The Environment Canada scientist in question, Philippe Thomas, had asked members of the Alberta Trappers Association to send him samples of fur-bearing animals caught across Alberta in 2012. Thomas needed a broad range of samples to gain deeper insight into the contaminant load in animals living near the oilsands.

Carol Linnitt, Access Denied: Ministry of Environment Vetoes Interview Request on Oilsands Toxins in Animals

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From 2008-09 to 2010-11, there was an average of 24 such complaints to the CRA each year. This went up to 139 complaints in 2011-12 and 159 the year after that. Ethical Oil, the lobby group with Conservative ties that encourages “people, businesses and governments to choose Ethical Oil from Canada’s oilsands,” made several complaints and at least five of these groups are being audited. Of the 20 self-identified charities, 11 do some work on environmental issues and seven work on social justice or international development. Seven of the 20 have had their federal funding eliminated since 2006. KAIROS, the group that was famously not recommended by the former CIDA minister Bev Oda, is being audited under the auspices of the United Church of Canada. Four other groups identified on the church’s website as partners are being audited. Some of the audits have taken years, draining staff time, resources and energy from the organizations.

Don McRae, CRA audits of charities look fair but feel foul

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The direction of change over the past decade is even more alarming. The OECD average research intensity increased every year, growing from 2.16 per cent in 2003 to 2.40 per cent in 2013. In contrast, Canada’s research intensity has decreased from 1.99 per cent in 2003 to 1.62 per cent in 2013. We are not just lagging behind in science funding, but also in how science is used to inform government policy decisions.  A recent article in Vox described how a “quiet, evidence-based revolution” is underway internationally. This movement is pushing for government policies that are backed by real evidence rather than guess work or ideology; much like how medicine has become an evidence-based discipline over the past century. The article singles out Canada for lagging behind the U.S. and the U.K. in this transformation. A prime example of this is the decision to eliminate the long-form census, which was extensively revisited over the past few months while a private member’s bill to reinstate the census moved through Parliament. Despite concerns raised by academics, business groups, local governments and many others about the evidence vacuum that the loss of the mandatory long-form census has created, the bill was defeated.

Katie Gibbs, Canada’s future depends on a national science strategy that offers bold vision

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The Harper government is committing Canada to reduce its carbon emissions by 30 per cent from 2005 levels by 2030, but offers no plan to rein in the country’s fastest-growing source of greenhouse gases – the oil sands. The 2030 emissions target was submitted to the United Nations on Friday as part of preparations for a summit to be held in Paris in December where nations aim to conclude a global climate agreement to avert the worst impact of global warming.

Shawn McCarthy, Ottawa commits to 30-per-cent cut in GHGs but no regulations for oil sands

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Stephen Harper semble être devenu l’ennemi public numéro un des écologistes. Plusieurs d’entre eux se disent même incapables de nommer une seule mesure positive mise en place par les conservateurs en environnement depuis 2006. «Trouver un exemple positif d’action en environnement? C’est pratiquement impossible depuis que les conservateurs sont au pouvoir. L’image du Canada comme un beau grand pays vert n’existe plus. C’est fini ce temps-là», lance Patrick Bonin, porte-parole de Greenpeace.

Sarah-Maude Lefebvre, L’ennemi numéro un des écologistes

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While the provinces are free to set their own renewable energy goals, climate change knows no boundaries. Currently, there is no national renewable energy target in Canada. That’s unacceptable. We should be more ambitious in our approach to global climate change. Canada can demonstrate true national and international leadership before world leaders sign a new climate change treaty in Paris this November. Canada’s political parties need to address this key issue before the October election. When Canadians vote, they need to know where the party leaders stand. If elected Prime Minister, will they commit to working closely with provinces on an integrated strategy - including setting national renewable energy targets?

Desmond Tutu, Respond urgently to climate change by setting a renewable energy target of 100% by 2050

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So when I moved back to Canada after 15 years in the United States, I looked for research on marine contamination in my new home in Newfoundland where fish and even marine mammals remain a major part of people's identities and diets. Peter Ross is the Canadian scientist at the forefront of studying contaminants in marine mammals. I needed to talk to him. Except he had been fired during the complete elimination of Fisheries and Oceans Canada's entire contaminants research program in 2013. There is now not a single federal scientist monitoring capacity for pollution in our three oceans, including the impacts on food stocks that are central to Newfoundlanders, over 300,000 Canadian Aboriginal peoples, and marine wildlife. The closure of the DFO's contaminants research program was just one of over a hundred cancelled research programs, most of which monitored environmental harm. Peter Ross is just one of thousands of recently fired scientists conducting essential research. Additionally, the government has shuttered libraries and destroyed data archives, reaching back into the past to eliminate research. Remaining federal scientists face significant constraints that impact their ability to speak directly to the media, the public, policymakers, and even other researchers like me about the results of their work. While research on environmental monitoring is being cut, research on resource extraction and development is growing, launching environmental problems into the future. It’s like an exploding time machine has taken over science in Canada.

Max Liboiron, Inquiry as Protest: Censored Federal Science and the Write2Know Project

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Members of the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC) are demanding changes to how the government deals with “public science,” including reinstating government scientists’ right to speak freely about their research. Despite a genteel name and image, the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC) is actually a union representing more than 55,000 “white-collar” employees in the federal government. Yet its public profile has long languished in the shadow of the three-times-larger and more militant Public Service Alliance of Canada.

Peter Calamai, A fight for integrity

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Peter Watson has survived Quebec. The chair of the National Energy Board, currently on a cross-country tour to assure Canadians that the energy regulator is committed to protecting their safety and the environment, has just wrapped up a 10-day tour of Quebec, hotbed of environmentalism and opposition to pipelines. Watson met first responders, environmental groups, representatives of First Nations, and over 60 mayors. As oil pipelines have made headlines — mostly for the wrong reasons — the NEB has been thrust in the eye of a storm, he acknowledged.

Raveena Aulakh, National Energy Board on cross-Canada tour to assure public

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Canada is taking its vast freshwater resources for granted, wrecking them in the process, says a scathing new report. Titled Blue Betrayal, it also warns that climate change; industrial farming; melting glaciers; oil, gas and mineral extraction; and dumping of waste — sometimes toxic waste — into our waterways are all growing threats to our diminishing water supplies. The report, authored by Maude Barlow of the Council of Canadians, a non-governmental organization, accuses Ottawa of turning its back on water resources to advance the interests of the energy industry.

Raveena Aulakh, Scathing report on health of Canada’s waters accuses Ottawa of wilful negligence

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The biggest overhaul in the 15-year history of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) was meant to rescue biomedical researchers from the endless grant applications and Byzantine peer-review processes that had become a feature of the cash-strapped agency. “The research community was complaining bitterly,” says Alain Beaudet, president of the CIHR in Ottawa. “They begged me to make changes.” But now that reality is kicking in, many researchers worry that the changes — which modify how grants are awarded, restructure advisory boards and reallocate the money funnelled through the 13 virtual institutes that comprise the CIHR — will marginalize some fields and hurt early-career researchers.

Sara Reardon, Canadians baulk at reforms to health-research agency

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Austerity is sacrificing the common good for corporate profits. It affects everyone. Austerity keeps migrant workers from exercising their rights, rolls back environmental regulations, muzzles scientists, undermines unions, keeps women earning less than men, and prevents Indigenous people from taking care of their lands, all while spending billions on war.

Shit Harper Did, 9 ridiculous things the Conservatives could have cut instead of the Vancouver Coast Guard station.

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David Robinson, executive director of the Canadian Association of University Teachers in Ottawa, calls the plan a missed opportunity. “The government continues to miss the fact that real innovation and scientific advancements are driven by long-term basic research, not short-term market demands,” he says. Much of the promised funding for research is destined for industrial partnerships in keeping with other Conservative policies, some of which have strained relationships between the government and scientists.

Margaret Munro, Canadian budget pushes applied research

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I’m not sure how to interpret the Canadian situation in light of other jurisdictions. It seems clear that within the Canadian context for government science funding that research funding is on a downward trend and has been going down for a few years (my June 2, 2014 posting). That said, we have another problem and that’s industrial research and development funding (my Oct. 30, 2013 posting about the 2013 OECD scorecard for science and technology; Note: the scorecard is biannual and should be issued again in 2015). Businesses don’t pay for research in Canada and it appears the Conservative and previous governments have not been successful in reversing that situation even marginally.

Maryse de la Giroday, 2015 Canadian federal budget and science

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Over 30 groups and organizations, representing thousands of Canadians, issued a joint statement to the Canadian government on Wednesday decrying the government's lack of commitment to domestic action on climate change and the international climate negotiations process. In their letter, the signatories claim that "the government's recent failure to submit Canada's targets for emissions cuts to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) by the March 31 deadline is indicative of this lack of commitment."

John Bonnar, Canadians 'disappointed and alarmed' by federal government's lack of commitment on climate change

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NSERC, SSHRC and CIHR, Canada’s main granting agencies in support of university research are not doing well. Their total absence from Budget 2015 is only one of many symptoms indicating how tired they are. Tired are their ways in trying to justify themselves to government, and tired they must be of having essentially nothing to offer to the political agenda. But first, what is the government’s agenda on research and innovation? Those of us who have been trying hard over the past few years to guess what makes this government tick on this front, need to admit that we have been wrong all along. What sometimes looked like a totally random walk by a government in search of a vision for the nation’s innovation agenda, turned out to be totally coherent and completely in line with their expected ways of governing.

Nassif Ghoussoub, Why Canada’s research granting councils mean so little to this government’s agenda