The Death of Canadian Research

"Policy decisions are being made, and there won't be evidence.  There is a systematic campaign to reduce the flow of scientific evidence to Canadians.  As a result, the public hears and sees only information that supports federal government policy or ideology.  That's not evidence, that's propaganda."  Scott Findlay, University of Ottawa biology professor.

Downtown Ottawa saw a protest event staged by Canadian scientists today, in front of Parliament Hill.  This was no celebratory event to advertise the expertise and excellence in scientific research that Canada has good reason to be proud of.  It was a collective effort to protest that cutbacks in spending by the federal government are targeting the wrong places for spurious savings.  Savings may result, but they come at a very dear cost.

Science should not have a political component that afflicts its progress.  As it happened, a conference taking place in Ottawa on the weekend brought two thousand, four hundred biologists to the city.  Among this group were scientists from universities and government laboratories who decided to organize a noon protest march to Parliament Hill.  This march was named the Death of Evidence.

There have been cuts on a number of fronts to projects and research labs that are given world-wide recognition for their value to scientific endeavours and the research opportunities that come out of their existence.  Ending their funding will gain very little in the way of savings, while expunging opportunities for scientific research and leaving Canadian scientists and those of the international community poorer in resources.

• Federal cuts have ended funding to an Arctic atmospheric research lab called PEARL, and as well, the Experimental Lakes Area in northwestern Ontario.  Each of these represent centres of real-world experiments and both enjoy international reputations.
• Funding cuts have impacted the existence of the National Round Table on Environment and Economy and the National Science Advisor.

The 'living laboratories' represented by the Experimental Lakes Area which has operated for decades with long-term experiments cannot be replicated in a university laboratory environment.  Scientists have used the 58 lakes to study pollutants and changing climate impacts on living species in a natural setting.  It is situated uniquely, and is geographically isolated without any negative industrial impacts, making it a rare source of natural-condition lake experimentation.

Of the station's seventeen staff, sixteen have been given "affected notices", leaving only a manager intact.  The approximately 200 people who yearly arrive at the Experimental Lakes Area to conduct research on a variety of projects will no longer be able to use this invaluable natural resource.  "It's a critical training ground for the scientists of tomorrow", and it is vanishing through budgetary restraint.