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September 24, 2013 - No. 105
Stand Up for Science!
Cross Canada Rallies Defend Science
Against Harper Government's
Anti-Social Offensive
On September 16 as part of the Evidence for Democracy
campaign, scientists, researchers and their
supporters across the country held actions to defend the important work
they do in service of the public. Their work in the service of keeping
Canadians well-informed, safe and healthy and to further the country's
social, environmental, industrial and technological development
has been under increasing assault by the Harper dictatorship. This
assault is part
of its program to remove all blocks to monopoly right, its phony
austerity
agenda with its brutal cutbacks to the public service and its practice
of trying to muzzle all those who do not agree with its narrow
ideological agenda. "Stand Up for Science"
rallies were held in at least 17 cities. Spirits were high as
participants seized this opportunity to express their outrage at what
is being done to wreck their important work in many fields.
The September 16 rallies are part of an ongoing campaign
to oppose the Harper government's anti-social offensive against
scientific
research and those who carry it out. On July 10, 2012, a similar rally
has held on Parliament Hill. On November 16, 2012, the Professional
Institute of the Public Service of Canada
(PIPSC), whose members include many scientists and technicians, held a
rally on Parliament Hill to defend public services and oppose layoffs.
PIPSC members are amongst those who are directly affected by the Harper
government's layoffs of more than 19,000 federal public sector workers
announced in the 2012
budget. Meanwhile, the campaign to save the Experimental Lakes Area, a
research facility of global significance which had its funding cut last
year, continues. A major attack on social scientists' work was the
cancellation of the long form census by the Harper government in 2010.
This eliminated data used by these scientists to conduct their research
and effectively put an end to social science research at universities
across the country -- research that would contradict the anti-social
agenda of the Harperites.
Ottawa
The largest rally on September 16 took place on
Parliament Hill. Over 1,000 people, including hundreds of scientists in
white lab coats gathered in front of the Centre Block demanding
"evidence-based decision-making."
Several speakers representing scientists in universities
and government departments spoke eloquently about the need to change
the direction being taken by the Harper government which has resulted
in cuts to many scientific institutions and severely restricted the
valuable research being carried out across the country.
They pointed out that the government has also shifted science funding
towards the commercialization of research and government scientists
have been denied the right to communicate their research to the public.
 One of the speakers
expressed great anger towards the Harper government for the damage that
has been done to "one of the most respected scientific institutions in
the world," the National Research Council (NRC). He pointed out that
the NRC's peer-reviewed publications plummeted from 1991 in 2006 to
just
436 in 2012, while the production of new patents dropped from 53 in
2006 to just three in 2012. He also spoke about the tremendous research
that has been carried out by the NRC in the past, leading to inventions
like
canola oil and the meningitis vaccine.
While the Conservatives claim to be investing in
research in reality there have been drastic cuts in basic research,
speakers pointed out. Over $350 million will be cut from scientific
research this year and in real terms annual science and technology
spending has been slashed by seven per cent compared to when
the Conservatives formed the government.
In addition to slashing funds for research, the Harper
government is also shifting priorities to focus on short-term
commercial applications. In the 2013 federal budget, 100 per cent of
the new funding provided for the Canadian Institute of Health Research
as well as the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research
Council of Canada and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research
Council is dedicated to expanding research partnerships with private
industry.
Several speakers at the rally pointed out that the
Harper government "has upset the delicate balance that must be
maintained between basic and applied research."
All the speakers denounced the Harper Conservatives for
the muzzling of government scientists and demanded that there must be
open communication of publicly-funded science to the public. The
government must use the best
available science and evidence to make decisions, the scientists
stated.
They also demanded adequate government support and funding for
scientific research from basic science to applied research and
technology innovation.
The scientists warned that they would continue to leave
their laboratories and come to Parliament Hill to "Stand Up for
Science" and fight against the damaging policies being implemented by
the Harper Conservatives.
The organizers of the rally encouraged everyone to
sign their petition at evidencefordemocracy.ca
and popularize it is widely as possible.
Fredericton
Montreal
Kingston
Toronto
Kitchener-Waterloo
Winnipeg
Edmonton
Abbotsford
Vancouver
The Canadian War on Science: A Long, Unexaggerated,
Devasting Chronological Indictment
- John Dupuis, ScienceBlogs
-
This is a brief chronology of the current Conservative
Canadian
government's long campaign to undermine evidence-based scientific,
environmental and technical decision-making. It is a government that is
beholden to big business, particularly big oil, and that makes every
attempt to shape public policy to that
end. It is a government that fundamentally doesn't believe in science.
It is a government that is more interested in keeping its corporate
masters happy than in protecting the environment.
As is occasionally my habit, I have pulled together a
chronology of
sorts. It is a chronology of all the various cuts, insults, muzzlings
and cancellations that I've been able to dig up. Each of them
represents a single shot in the Canadian Conservative war on science.
It should be noted that not every item in this
chronology, if taken in isolation, is necessarily the end of the world.
It's the accumulated evidence that is so damning.
Most of the items come from various links I've saved
over the years
as well as various other media articles I've dug up over the last week
or so. This
series at The Huffington Post
has been particularly useful
as has this
article at the Wastershed Sentinal.
A long list of various environmental programs that the
Harper
government has discontinued or slashed funding to is here. I haven't
found individual media stories about all of them, so they aren't in the
list below. If you can help me find stories about some of those
programs, etc, please let me know. As well,
some stories are treated multiple times, with perhaps an initial story
telling the big picture or introducing a large series of cuts and later
stories fleshing out details."
- Apr 2006. One
Tonne Challenge funding stopped
- Jan 2008.
Office of National Science Adviser phased out
- Jan 2008. Nuclear safety
watchdog head fired for 'lack
of leadership'
- Oct 2009.
Document delivery outsourced at The Canada
Institute for
Scientific and Technical Information (national science library)
- Feb 2010.
Layoffs at The Canada Institute for
Scientific and Technical Information
- Mar 2010.
Information restrictions brought in by
government have
severely restricted the media's access to government researchers
- Mar 2011. NRC
Press privatized to Canadian Science
Publishing, removing Open Access to many articles
- Mar 2011. NSERC reduces
funding for basic research
- Mar 2011. Tri-Council
reallocates funds from discovery
to industry research
- Jul 2011.
Budget cuts to Climate Change and Clean Air,
Substance and
Waste Management, Weather and Environmental Services, Water Resources
and Internal Services, Action Plan on Clean Water, the Federal
Contaminated Sites Action Plan, Chemicals Management Plan, the Clean
Air Agenda, the Air Quality
Health Index, Species at Risk Program
- Jul 2011. NSERC Discovery
Grants reduced
- Oct 2011.
Canadian Environmental Network closes
- Jan 2012.
Natural Resources Minister accuses foreign
radical environmentalists of hijacking the system
- Feb 2012.
Polar Environment Atmospheric Research
Laboratory (PEARL) loses funding (later partial reprieve)
- Feb 2012.
Closure of Kitsilano Coast Guard station
- Mar 2012. Canadian
Foundation for Climate and
Atmospheric Sciences closes
- Mar 2012. Gutting the
Fisheries Act
- Apr 2012. Cereal Research
Centre cut
- Apr 2012. Muzzling of
scientists at international
conferences
- Apr 2012. Repeal of Canadian
Environmental Assessment
Act, download to provinces
- Apr 2012. Transport Canada
Aircraft Services cut
- Apr 2012. The Centre for
Plant Health relocated (later
reprieve)
- Apr 2012. Scientists
monitored at polar conference
- May 2012.
1000 jobs cut at Department of Fisheries and
Oceans (details follow)
- May 2012. Ocean Contaminants
& Marine Toxicology
Program axed.
- May 2012. Centre for
Offshore Oil & Gas Energy
Research cut
- May 2012. Freshwater
Institute cut
- May 2012. Centre for
Off-shore Oil, Gas, and Energy
Research cut
- May 2012. Maurice-Lamontagne
Institute cut
- May 2012. Smokestacks
Emissions Monitoring Team cut
- May 2012. Cuts to NSERC
Discovery, Major Resources
Support and Research Tools and Instruments programs
- May 2012. Mersey
Biodiversity Centre slated for closure
- Jun 2012.
Eliminate Experimental Lakes Area program
- Jul 2012. Arctic Institute
of North America's Kluane
Research Station cut
- Sep 2012.
Revamp Species-at-Risk act
- Oct 2012. DFO
Habitat Management Program cut
- Oct 2012. Declining grant
success rate for Post Doctoral
Fellows
- Nov 2012.
Bill C-45 weakens environmental laws and
democracy, such as Navigable Waters Protection Act
- Nov 2012. Salmon research
lab run by Frederick Kibenge
at the
Atlantic Veterinary College-University of Prince Edward Island targeted
- Nov 2012. Navigable Waters
Protection Act altered to
give developers
more freedom to build around most Canadian rivers and lakes without
obtaining permission from the federal government
- Dec 2012.
Eliminating the Hazardous Materials
Information Review Commission
- Jan 2013.
Very long list of scientist muzzlings from
Democracy Watch
- Feb 2013.
Restrict how researchers can share data
- Feb 2013. Department of
Fisheries & Oceans muzzles
its scientists
- Feb 2013. Information
commissioner investigates
'Muzzling' of federal scientists, called a threat to democracy
- Feb 2013. Prairies Regional
Office: Canadian
Environmental Assessment Agency closes
- Mar 2013.
Muzzling of scientists
- Mar 2013. Experimental Lakes
Area environmental research
project loses funding
- Mar 2013. The government
votes against public science,
basic
research and the free and open exchange of scientific information are
essential to evidence-based policy-making
- Mar 2013. $100 million cut
from Department of Fisheries
& Oceans over three years
- Mar 2013. Centralizing,
Slashing Federal Web Info
- Mar 2013. Quit UN
anti-drought convention
- Mar 2013. Unnecessarily
sabotaging ongoing research at
the
Experimental Lakes Area and deliberately robbing international and
domestic scientist of the 2013 field season
- Apr 2013.
Create barrier to public participation in
pipeline hearings
- Apr 2013. Environment Canada
name removed from it's
weather website, replaced with government promotional links
- Apr 2013. Closure of
Department of Fisheries &
Oceans libraries
- Apr 2013. Scientist at
National Water Research Institute
in Saskatoon muzzled
- Apr 2013. Minister blames
David Suzuki, Environmental
Groups To Blame For Pipeline Opposition
- May 2013.
Minister of the Environment Peter Kent refuses
to correct Conservative MP's crackpot views on polar bears
- May 2013. Minister of
Natural Resources insults oil
sands critics
- May 2013. National Research
Council overhauled to do
business-friendly research rather than basic science
- May 2013. Hundreds of jobs
cut at Agriculture Canada
- May 2013. Agriculture Canada
cuts including Prairie
Farm
Rehabilitation Administration, Semi-Arid Prairie Agricultural Research
Centre and various centres for beef and dairy research
- May 2013. Free-speech report
takes aim at Harper
government's 'culture of secrecy'
This list is no doubt incomplete. There may also be link
errors or
duplications. In particular, if you have updates on any of the stories,
including reversals or reprieves, I want to hear those too.
Please feel free to make suggestions and corrections in
the comments
or to me at jdupuis@yorku.ca. This blog will be updated ion the next
couple of days with additions submitted.
[For the updates and links to articles listed above, see
the
original post here.]
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Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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