Mr. Speaker, although it is always a privilege to speak in the House, today it is with a heavy heart that I rise to debate our NDP opposition day motion on science and scientific freedom.
Before moving to the motion, I would like to clarify that we use the term “science” in the broadest possible sense, encompassing the natural sciences, technology, engineering and math, the so-called STEM disciplines, as well as the social sciences and humanities. By science, we mean all forms of intellectual endeavour whereby truth is sought.
Our motion has three main points. The first is for all MPs to support the basic principle that federal scientists must be enabled to openly discuss their findings with the public. Second is also a fundamental principle that public science, basic research and the free and open exchange of scientific information are essential to evidence-based policy-making. The third point is a specific request that the federal government maintain support for basic scientific capacity across Canada, including immediately extending funding to the world-renowned Experimental Lakes Area research facility.
To begin I will talk about our first principle, which we are asking the House to vote in support of tonight. This concerns allowing scientists to discuss their findings, a practice that sits at the very heart of what for centuries has been called the scientific method.
Science is not test tubes or data sets or microscopes or space stations, but a method by which we explore and attempt to explain our world. Central to the scientific method is the public disclosure of data and test results. This is crucial as it allows others to replicate research and retest and re-examine how and why scientists reached their conclusions. Without a strict adherence to the scientific method, we do not generate science but mere propaganda.
Our motion asks that the House recognize that we in this place support a critical component of the scientific method, namely that researchers employed by the Canadian government not be restricted in their ability to share their work.
I was shocked to recently discover that during an interview on #FAQMP, the Minister of State (Science and Technology) actually bragged about getting daily briefings to ascertain whether “some scientist leaked information to another country”. Is this what we have come to? Does the government live in such fear of our top researchers that it requires daily briefings as to whether our scientists are traitors? We ask government members to vote “yes” to our motion to prove otherwise.
The second point concerns public science for Canadians. Our second principle concerns ensuring government policy is based on the best available research, and that this research is made available to the public.
Canadians support science through their tax dollars. However, by suppressing the results of public research, Conservatives either seem to think that Canadian taxpayers are incapable of understanding the science being done on their behalf or think it is too dangerous to allow them to be informed and make decisions for themselves.
I would also like to mention at this point that I will be splitting my time.
Despite their disdain for science, hopefully the members on the government side of the House can see how important it is that our policies, including those connected to the economy and the environment, be based on solid evidence and not ideology. It is hard for scientists to take comfort in platitudes from members opposite. They hear the same talking points about how the Conservative government values scientific research.
Canadian scientists know full well that the voices of their colleagues are being silenced. Canadian scientists know that our international partners are now choosing not to collaborate with us because they question the integrity of Canadian science and fear government interference with their work. Canadian scientists also know that promising young students are being turned away because funding for scholarships and research labs is being drastically cut. Canadian scientists know that labs across Canada must now scramble to secure emergency funding and finding none, wait for an eleventh hour pardon for the crime of believing that furthering knowledge is worthy of their life's effort.
Finally, our NDP opposition day motion calls on the Conservatives to concretely demonstrate their commitment to discovery by ensuring long-term stable funding for basic research, starting with the extension of funds to the Experimental Lakes Area. In the grand scheme of things, the few hundred thousand dollars it takes to keep the ELA open is a pittance, both in real numbers, when compared to many other government schemes and policies, and in relative terms, recognizing how much Canadians and indeed the whole world has benefited from the work being done there.
To quote our outgoing environment commissioner, Scott Vaughan:
—this is something that doesn't exist elsewhere and also it's been under way now for a couple of decades. When you turn that switch off...it is incredibly difficult to turn the switch back on.... When these scientists are gone, to try to then rebuild those programs is really difficult.
I have spoken with the very people who laid the groundwork for Canada's greatest living laboratory and it deeply saddens me when I think of how this government has squandered our advantages and has surrendered this critical international research facility to loggers' chainsaws. That is right. Instead of being used to solve questions such as the effect of silver nanoparticles on the environment, the forests around the lakes are likely to be logged bare.
Let us not forget that what is happening to the ELA is happening in research facilities right across Canada. The ELA is just one cruel symbol among many of the Conservative science policy.
While I am sure the Minister of State (Science and Technology) will stand and say that his government has invested more than any other, in fact, that is not true. The most recent Statistics Canada report shows that last year the Conservatives cut 6% from science and technology funding and laid off 1,500 personnel engaged in science and technology activities. Canada committed 1.8% of our gross domestic product to research and development in 2010, down from our 2.1% commitment in 2001. Our southern neighbours under President Obama now spend 3% of GDP on research and development, and other developed countries spend up to 4.5%.
The Conservatives' cuts to science have hit hard primary funding agencies such as SSHRC, NSERC and CIHR. They have forced many labs and research institutes to close and forced promising early-career researchers to move abroad for research opportunities.
A letter of concern signed by University of Ottawa professor David Bryce and 46 other top scientists on the moratorium on NSERC's major resources support program said:
There are now no funding streams dedicated to the purchase of scientific equipment or to operate nationally and internationally unique resources. The loss of the MRS program in particular means that resources built up over many years could be lost or made inaccessible due to loss of personnel needed to sustain the resource.
The principal investigator for the advanced laser light source, the first and only large-scale laser user facility in Canada, described the sudden cut of his funding as a bullet to the head.
Pieces form the whole. One cannot expect that Canada will be in the position to lead the global push for innovation in the 21st century on one hand, but then on the other, ruthlessly slash the scientific research capacity from which innovation stems. One cannot expect that the voices of Canadian scientists will be the ones that inspire the world, but still choose to muzzle many and cast over all the fear of retribution.
The innate human drive of curiosity is a powerful and beautiful thing, but that which leads us to world-changing discoveries is first contingent upon our freedom and capacity to innovate. That freedom, that capacity, is being taken away by the Conservative government.
Canadian scientists need the freedom to speak freely and have their work judged not by political loyalty tests but by their peers in the field. Ensuring scientific capacity is strong means stable, sustainable funding for basic research and ensuring the next generation of Canadian scientists receive the support they need.
The NDP believes in scientific research and though it may take decades to reverse the effects of these short-sighted Conservative cuts, Canada will climb out from these new Dark Ages. We will look back at the Conservative legacy littered with logged lakes and mothball spectrometers and ask: How could we have let this happen?
Science and knowledge will prevail. Today is the first day of spring. Let us end the long Conservative winter for science and use this opposition day motion to turn things around.
