SIGN PETITION: Standing up for science

SIGN PETITION: Standing up for science

Postby Oscar » Sun Jan 19, 2014 4:02 pm

SIGN PETITION: Standing up for science

[ http://petition.ndp.ca/science/ ]

Let’s stop the Conservative attacks and start innovating again.

From the Canadarm to the pacemaker to insulin—Canadian scientists and researchers have led the innovation race and saved lives around the world.

But under Stephen Harper’s Conservatives, we’re falling behind. They’re closing labs, firing hundreds of researchers and gutting training programs for fundamental research right across the country.

All that, on top of constant attacks on scientific integrity—like muzzling those who disagree with the conservative do-nothing approach to climate change.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

Tom Mulcair’s New Democrats are standing up for science and standing up to Conservative attacks on scientific integrity. Because together we can ensure that scientists have the freedom to pursue discovery and the stable support for basic science needed to truly make Canada a home for innovation again.

Add your voice.

Petition to the House of Commons:

We the undersigned residents of Canada recognize the following:

Advancing scientific discovery and human knowledge is central to our Canadian identity—and makes us a stronger country.

Conservative cuts to basic science and fundamental research harm long-term economic growth by slowing innovation and our move to a knowledge based economy.

Conservative attacks on scientific integrity—including the muzzling of scientists and cuts to research capacity—stop major scientific advancement from happening.

Therefore, we call on the Government of Canada to restore funding to agencies and programs that directly support fundamental research and scientist-driven discovery—and to ensure that scientific integrity is always protected from political interference.

SIGN PETITION HERE:

[ http://petition.ndp.ca/science/ ]

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Scientists protest - Stand Up for Science rallies target federal government

[ http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/stand ... -1.1855977 ]

Motion supporting scientists' freedom to speak tabled by NDP

CBC News Posted: Sep 16, 2013 12:12 PM ET Last Updated: Sep 16, 2013 10:48 PM ET

Canadian scientists and their supporters held demonstrations across the country Monday, calling on the federal government to stop cutting scientific research and muzzling scientists.

“Stand Up for Science” events were held in 17 cities by the non-profit science advocacy group Evidence for Democracy.

“Scientists would rather be doing research than rallying, but many of us are concerned about the health of public science, and feel that Canadians should understand these concerns,” said Scott Findlay, a co-founder of Evidence of Democracy and a professor of biology at the University of Ottawa, in a statement.

“The Canadian standard of living is, in large measure, a result of scientific discovery and technological innovation. So every Canadian has a vested interest in the health of public science, and the use of scientific evidence to protect and sustain the values we hold.”

MORE:

[ http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/stand ... -1.1855977 ]

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How the Harper Government Committed a Knowledge Massacre

----- Original Message -----
From: jean.crowder.c1@parl.gc.ca
Sent: Wednesday, January 15, 2014 3:41 PM
Subject: RE: How the Harper Government Committed a Knowledge Massacre

Please sign and forward on.

Thank you for your recent email regarding the closure of seven world-famous Department of Fisheries & Ocean libraries across Canada. My NDP colleagues and I share your concerns about these closures and the potential loss of knowledge.

The Conservative government has shown a disregard for the importance of scientific discovery & integrity. They have continuously cut funding for scientific research and programs, closed key offices such as the Office of the National Science Advisor, limited the scope of research allowed at the National Research Council, and muzzled scientists from speaking to the media or the public about their research or findings - all undermining scientific capacity and transparency in Canada.

The decision to close these libraries without the appropriate consultation, referencing and transferring of resources means that the Conservatives have put irreplaceable scientific research at risk.

These libraries housed rare baseline knowledge dating back to the early 1800s on aquatic systems, fish stocks and fisheries. These resources are now lost to scientists and the public alike and put our fisheries and our environment at risk due to mismanagement.

While it may be too late to save the scientific research housed at these seven world renowned libraries, you can help us stand up for science in Canada by signing our petition at: [ http://petition.ndp.ca/science/ ].

Thank you for writing to me on this important issue.

Regards,
Jean Crowder, MP
Nanaimo-Cowichan
101-126 Ingram St.,
Duncan, BC, V9L 1P1
(TEL) 250-746-4896 |
(TOLL-FREE) 1-866-609-9998 |
(FAX) 250-746-5354
www.jeancrowder.ca

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How the Harper Government Committed a Knowledge Massacre

[ http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/capt-trevo ... 34729.html ]

Posted: 01/03/2014 By Capt. Trevor Greene

Scientists are calling it "libricide." Seven of the nine world-famous Department of Fisheries and Oceans [DFO] libraries were closed by autumn 2013, ostensibly to digitize the materials and reduce costs. But sources told the independent Tyee in December that a fraction of the 600,000-volume collection had been digitized. And, a secret federal document notes that a paltry $443,000 a year will be saved. The massacre was done quickly, with no record keeping and no attempt to preserve the material in universities. Scientists said precious collections were consigned to dumpsters, were burned or went to landfills.

Probably the most famous facility to get the axe is the library of the venerable St. Andrews Biological Station in St. Andrews, New Brunswick, which environmental scientist Rachel Carson used extensively to research her seminal book on toxins, Silent Spring. The government just spent millions modernizing the facility.

Also closed were the Freshwater Institute library in Winnipeg and the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Centre in St. John's, Newfoundland, both world-class collections. Hundreds of years of carefully compiled research into aquatic systems, fish stocks and fisheries from the 1800s and early 1900s went into the bin or up in smoke.

Irreplaceable documents like the 50 volumes produced by the H.M.S. Challenger expedition of the late 1800s that discovered thousands of new sea creatures, are now moldering in landfills.

Renowned Dalhousie University biologist Jeff Hutchings calls the closures "an assault on civil society."

"It is always unnerving from a research and scientist perspective to watch a government undermine basic research. Losing libraries is not a neutral act," Hutchings says. He blames political convictions for the knowledge massacre.

"It must be about ideology. Nothing else fits," said Hutchings. "What that ideology is, is not clear. Does it reflect that part of the Harper government that doesn't think government should be involved in the very things that affect our lives? Or is it that the role of government is not to collect books or fund science?" Hutchings said the closures fit into a larger pattern of "fear and insecurity" within the Harper government, "about how to deal with science and knowledge."

Many scientists have compared the war on environmental science to the rise of fascism in 1930s Europe. Hutchings muses, "you look at the rise of certain political parties in the 1930s and have to ask how could that happen and how did they adopt such extreme ideologies so quickly, and how could that happen in a democracy today?"
Oscar
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