Scientists Fight Back In Canada

Trufagus writes "The current Canadian government is widely regarded as 'anti-science,' and this year they have stepped up their efforts to undermine scientists and control their contact with the media. But now the federal scientists are fighting back and have just launched their own website. Gary Corbett, president of the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada, said, 'If science isn't supported then you're going to find that decisions are going to be made more at the political level,' on Monday as the union launched their website."

Re:Go figure

[couchslug]

Why is that a Troll? There are almost zero secular Conservatives, and not enough to make policy.

Religion and science are opposing views, and religionists have a history of stifling science and killing scientists they thought threatened belief in their imaginary celestial friend.

Re:Shockingly Unsurprising

[couchslug]

Scientists ought to seek out other countries for funding. The brain drain can work in reverse.

If China were smart, it would buy up the scientific talent chased out of the West by religious oppression. China was once the most advanced country in the world. There is no reason that shouldn't happen again. The Communists knew what to do about religion, and did it in a manner no harsher than that which spread religion in the first place.

Everything is political

[southfarthing]

So the union doesn't think its positions aren't political? Nonsense. Policy - what we do about the facts - is supposed to be political. Many European countries are effectively bankrupt today. That's the fact. The policies that flow from that fact are political, and there's not a scientifically "right" choice to be made. Do they cut spending? Increase the retirement age? They need to choose based on their values and culture. Scientists are great at finding facts, but return to being regular citizens - no more or less important than anyone else - when it comes to deciding what to do about the facts. The website amounts to a lobby effort to increase funding and power for a bunch of civil servants, the vast majority of whom are engaged in necessary but mundane research that is nowhere near as important as they would like you to think.

Here in Sunny Queensland - political choices

[dbIII]

A few years back in Queensland, Australia we had a government that wanted to get ahead instead of listening to those gloomy scientists. We ended up with a lot of taxpayers money going to things like Dr Horvath's Hydrogen car scam and the Cape York spaceport where the entire massive operation was going to be run by a two person company (which mysteriously soaked up money for years while still being nothing but two people and glossy brochures). The former USSR and Lysenkoism of course has many worse examples - but my point is purely political choices in science end up in snake oil scams.

Canada's Minister of Science is a Chiropractor...

[Anonymous Coward]

... and refused to say if he believed in evolution, saying that questions about is religion were inappropriate...

He then "retracted" himself and said this: "We are evolving, every year, every decade. That’s a fact. Whether it’s to the intensity of the sun, whether it’s to, as a chiropractor, walking on cement versus anything else, whether it’s running shoes or high heels, of course, we are evolving to our environment."

Yes, this is Canada's science minister. Look him up: Gary Goodyear

Let me guess...

[freeman-sr]

The site is being hosted on a server within Canada? There is a few probable sceneries about what the government might do about it, and none of them is going to be liked by the scientists.

Re:No, it doesn't assume that.

[huckamania]

The issue is about 'federal scientists'. The government of Canada is within their rights to setup rules regarding how their employees are talking to the media. It is no different then any large organization. There are numerous reasons why a large organization would want to control their public image. Imagine if you were an employer and one of your employees thought they had the right to hold press conferences that disagree with how you are running things.

These 'federal scientists' are free to work elsewhere if they disagree with these rules. The citizens of Canada can pressure their current pols and/or elect new ones if they are unhappy with these rules.

Welcome to the real world.