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PIPSC report on ‘Vanishing Science’ under Harper

The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC) has issued a new report titled, ‘VANISHING SCIENCE: The Disappearance of Canadian Public Interest Science’.

Report: Vanishing Science

Among the key points noted in the 12-page report:

– “In fact, even after accounting for the extraordinary impact of stimulus spending, between 2008 and 2013, a total of $596 million (in constant 2007 dollars) has been cut from science and technology (S&T) budgets at federal (science-based departments and agencies) SBDAs, and 2,141 (full-time equivalent positions) FTEs have been eliminated.”

– “(These cuts) have resulted in the loss of whole programs, including the Environment Canada-funded National Roundtable on the Environment and the Economy – for 25 years the leading federal advisory panel on sustainable development – the Hazardous Materials Information Review Commission, and the Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences, as well as the (Department of Fisheries and Oceans) DFO-funded Ocean Contaminants and Marine Toxicology Program.”

– “Other cuts have forced provincial governments to fund at least partly what the federal government has eliminated wholly, such as the world-renowned Environmental Lakes Area (ELA) in Kenora, Ontario – the largest continuous research undertaken of freshwater lakes in the world.”

– “But the worst is yet to come. Between 2013 and 2016, a combined $2.6 billion will be cut from 10 federal science-based departments and agencies alone (Agriculture Canada, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, the Canadian Space Agency, Environment Canada, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Health Canada, Industry Canada, the National Research Council, Natural Resources Canada, and the Public Health Agency of Canada), including a projected 5,064 FTE positions.”

– “In the spring of 2013, the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada … commissioned Environics Research Group to examine these and other questions of concern to federal scientists and the Canadian public. …According to the survey of PIPSC members, 9 out of 10 federal scientists (91%) say recent science cuts are having or will have a detrimental impact on the government’s ability to serve the public interest…”

To read the full report, please click here

Please also take action to Stop the Cuts!, Let the Science Speak!, and Defuse Bill C-4!

The Council of Canadians stands with the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada in defence of science in the public interest.