Last week the Canadian government announced that they would be retiring the office of national science adviser , a position held by Dr. Arthur Carty.
The position was introduced in 2004 under a liberal government and is currently being retired under a conservative government.
Radio science show Quirks & Quarks host Bob McDonald said of the decision :
”All science involves uncertainties – that’s the way the system works. But it takes a scientific eye to determine whether those uncertainties are significant or not. Without that perspective, a politician hears conflicting views or biased information that clouds the issue and confuses the public.
That’s where the National Science Adviser comes in. He or she is an independent, expert witness whose job is to provide perspective and education to the people at the top where the decisions are made.
Apparently, that’s no longer going to happen in Canada.”
(sorry for the long quote, I couldn’t trim it down without losing anything significant)
Eva, thanks for posting this. Very disappointing news…
Hi there
I thought you might be interested to know that I just set up a group for Canadian members. It is imaginatively called “Canada”, so search for it and join up if you’re interested!
Thanks
That’s sad news. I thought my home country (Canada) was smarter than my adopted country (US—at least with its current administration, which has demonstrated disdain for nonpartisan scientific input) on such matters, but I guess not. It’s bad enough that Canada backed out of the Kyoto Protocol, thanks to the new conservative government.
I couldn’t agree with Bob McDonald more.
FYI, Nature has a story on this today.