Friday, February 22, 2008

The Harper Conservatives: Enemies of Science


An editorial in the international journal Nature has called the Harper Conservatives "dismal" when it comes to recognizing the role of science in Canada.

Reprinted from Nature 451, 866:21 February 2008
Concerns can only be enhanced by the government's manifest disregard for science. Since prime minister Stephen Harper came to power, his government has been sceptical of the science on climate change and has backed away from Canada's Kyoto commitment. In January, it muzzled Environment Canada's scientists, ordering them to route all media enquires through Ottawa to control the agency's media message. Last week, the prime minister and members of the cabinet failed to attend a ceremony to honour the Canadian scientists who contributed to the international climate-change report that won a share of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.
Harper sees himself as the leader of a 'global energy powerhouse' and is committing Canada to a fossil-fuel economy. More than 40 companies have a stake in mining and upgrading the bitumen from the oil sands
in Alberta and churning out 1.2 million barrels a day. This activity generates three times as much greenhouse gas as conventional oil drilling. Emissions from Canada's oil and gas industry have risen by 42% since 1990.
Confirmation of CPC disregard for science was reinforced earlier this week in a Lancet article published by B.C. physician Dr. Julio Montaner and his colleagues. In it, Health Minister Tony Clement was lambasted for ignoring nearly 2 dozen peer-reviewed scientific articles on the efficacy of the INSITE safe injection program for intravenous drug addicts in favour of a single critique in an online journal funded by a lobby group (Drug Free America Foundation) and the RCMP. Over at Liberal Arts & Minds, KNB has written a terrific blog about this, and I encourage you to surf on over and have a read.

In any case, none of this should come as a surprise to Canadians. But it should be a profound embarassment to the Conservative Party, which has chosen to populate itself with a bunch of regressive ideologues, some of whom believe that man and dinosaur once co-existed like the Flintstones. Willllmaaaaaaa!!!!

9 comments:

Red Tory said...

Heh. Duly noted.

MD said...

The Conservative government's disdain for science is profoundly dangerous on a number of levels. As knb pointed out, a government that doesn't see a need for evidence-based public policy is unlikely to exercise sound judgement on important issues. A more subtle problem is that in a knowledge economy, there are dire economic consequences for a country that fails to encourage a culture of research and innovation.
If the devastation of Mike Harris' Common Sense Revolution here in Ontario proved anything, its that you can't trust ideologues to deliver economic prosperity.

Red Canuck said...

MD - a government that doesn't see a need for evidence-based public policy is unlikely to exercise sound judgement on important issues

This is really the crux of the problem. I frankly don't care if people like Stockboy Day think the earth is flat and 6000 years old. It's profoundly sad, but people are entitled to be stupid. What bothers me is that such people, as public servants, are being allowed and even encouraged by this government to impose their personal biases and agendas on public policy.

It doesn't bode well for any of us when government policy is guided by blind ideology and the willful dismissal of any contradictory empiric evidence.

Red Canuck said...

RT - It wasn't a big newsmaker, but a troubling tale nonetheless.

Red Tory said...

It’s confirmation of an attitude that many of us suspected was prevalent in the Conservative government. After all, our Public Safety Minister thinks that the earth is 6,000 yrs. old, that man walked with dinosaurs and the Bible is the inerrant Word of God. Now, really… how totally fucked up is THAT?

Red Tory said...

Oops. I should have read your previous comment first. Yes, of course Stock, Steve, et. al. are entitled to their evangelical beliefs, but when these start to manifest themselves in the promulgation of public policy or the stifling of scientific research, then it's going beyond the pale, at least in my book. Here in Canada we have a conceit that we share with the Brits that such "nutty" religious beliefs are to be safely compartmentalized and tucked away for personal use only. They most certainly should not invade the public, secular realm.

Red Canuck said...

RT - Here in Canada we have a conceit that we share with the Brits that such "nutty" religious beliefs are to be safely compartmentalized and tucked away for personal use only.

It's an interesting contrast to the American political canvas, on which it is impossible to paint without invoking mention of faith and a firm belief in a Christian "higher power". It's amazing that an avowed creationist like Mike Huckabee is an actual candidate for President of the most powerful country in the world!

RuralSandi said...

Whether you like him or not, Ignatieff has a recent speech (about faith) he made on his blog - very well done and so true.

Red Canuck said...

Ruralsandi - Thank you for pointing me to that blog. I went over and had a read, and I agree it was a well written speech. This bit was particularly prescient:
Claiming privileged access to the ways of Providence is the first step towards fanaticism. We can each thank our separate Gods that our politics is secular. We separate religion and politics—as Vico did not—and because we do, Canada has escaped the religious and ethnic strife that defaces other countries.

As Ignatieff correctly points out, faith in reason and in human equality are the cornerstones of a healthy modern democracy.