PublicScience.ca

[Tracey P. Lauriault]

This is an incredible initiative - http://www.publicscience.ca

This initiative started because public scientists are watching evidence based decision making disappear especially if the results of their science do not align with the new national truth sayers "political media relations".   Our public protectors in a sense have had to bypass the mechanics of the state to create their own website.

Austerity measures the Liberal government of the 1990s imposed to tackle a deficit have never been lifted, said Gary Corbett, the union president. At the same time, the Conservatives have imposed restrictions to curtail interaction between the scientists and the media. And there has been a move away from evidence-based decision making, he said.

The decision to replace the mandatory long-form census with a voluntary questionnaire over the objection of professional statisticians was one more step in what the union calls a worrying trend on the part of the government to discount the importance of the work of its scientists.

The aim of the website “is to bring focus and attention to the value of scientists who work in intramural science, those who work in federal government departments and agencies on things like the quality of water, the quality of air, the quality of toys coming into the country, the quality of the food we eat,” Mr. Corbett said.

Good, because in the absence of a national science foundation that assembles our best minds to resolve particular problems or to work collectively to avoid catastrophe, and the absence of governments who can handle the truth, scientists via their union have created a space for the rest of us to get access to our public science.

More than 23,000 scientists, researchers and regulators work in government departments, agencies and laboratories.

They inspect and approve the food we eat, the toys and products we use and the vaccines and medications we depend on.

These scientists also issue the weather forecasts and storm warnings our communities depend on, ensure the safety of different modes of transportation and respond to critical emergencies that threaten lives and the environment.

Their research contributes to solutions to global problems such as climate change, pandemics, sustainable development and feeding a hungry planet.

Lets see what this does - we may get smarter after all!

Cheers
t
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Tracey P. Lauriault
613-234-2805