Canada's Budget Cuts Damned as Anti Science. (July 21, 2012)

More than 2,000 scientists marched on Canada's Parliament last week protesting against a "systemic attack on science" by the Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Students at the University of Ottawa were the organisers of the 2,000 strong rally dubbed the "Death of Evidence", and the protest was against budget cuts that will force the closure of the Experimental Lakes Area in Northwestern Ontario as well as the Polar Environment Atmospheric Research Laboratory (Another research station will be built to replace it, the government says, opening in 2017 but twice as far from the region it is supposed to monitor). In addition there will be no funds for a national scientific advisor.

Arne Mooers, a biologist at Simon Fraser University, Burnaby told Science: "Recent actions by the federal government suggest that our state is frightened by evidence and is retreating into a fantasy world," while the Canadian government insists that the budget must be balanced and funding more-applied areas of science must take precedence.

In its July 19 editorial Nature writes that the protesters accuse: "the conservative government of prime minister Stephen Harper intends to suppress sources of scientific data that would refute what they see as pro-industry and anti-environment policies. Their list of alleged offences against science and scientific inquiry is lengthy and sobering."

And while Nature's editorialist agrees that: "It is important to note that the Harper government has increased science and technology spending every year since it took power in 2006, and has made a serious and successful attempt to attract top researchers to Canada. It has also set its sights on bolstering applied research, an area in which Canada has been relatively weak. Nonetheless, the critics' specific complaints do give cause for deep concern — which is borne out by a close look at the specifics of the Harper budget that was passed into law late last month... Of paramount concern for basic scientists is the elimination of the Can$25-million (A$23.8-million) RTI [Research Tools and Instruments Grants Program], administered by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), which funds equipment purchases of Can$7,000–150,000. An accompanying Can$36-million Major Resources Support Program, which funds operations at dozens of experimental-research facilities, will also be axed... Critics say that the government is targeting research into the natural environment because it does not like the results being produced."

The editorial concludes: "...applied research [cannot] thrive when basic research is struggling. If the Harper government has valid strategic reasons to undermine vital sectors of Canadian science, then it should say so — its people are ready to listen. If not, it should realize, and fast, that there is a difference between environmentalism and environmental science — and that the latter is an essential component of a national science programme, regardless of politics."