Those who follow the depredations of the Harper regime will know of the terrible attacks that science and research have undergone these past several years. Cuts to funding, closing of research centres, and muzzling of scientists are common occurrences. Indeed, not even the recent news of the early success of
Continue readingTag: harper contempt for science
Politics and its Discontents: King Stephen’s Fondest Dream
H/t Project Democracy Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: More On Government Muzzling
Yesterday, I posted a video of recently retired Fisheries and Oceans Canada biologist Steve Campana speaking about the sad state of morale within bureaucratic ranks. The Harper regime’s obsession with control and secrecy means that government scientists are forbidden to speak about their research without going through a labyrinthine series
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: A Recently Retired Government Scientist Speaks Out:
This is sad beyond words. A recently retired Fisheries and Oceans Canada biologist says the muzzling of federal government scientists is worse than anyone can imagine. Steve Campana, known for his expertise on everything from Great white sharks to porbeagles and Arctic trout, says the atmosphere working for the federal
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: The Harper Strategy
H/t Marry Ellen Davis Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: The Harper Attack On The Environment – Part Two
Continuing the series I started the other day, here is another excerpt from Science Under Attack, a chapter in Elizabeth May’s memoir Who We Are. Much of that chapter is devoted to the science of climate change, a science that, although constantly under attack by the ignorant and the well-funded
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: An Inse Suggestion
In my morning post, I reprinted the following letter from The toronto Star: With Stephen Harper’s Conservatives intent to push science back to medieval times, it may be time for Canadians to embrace those efforts and get with Harper Times. Issue all conservatives a bell to be worn in public.
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: 2015: Day Two
H/t The Toronto Star Well, it is good to know that Star letter-writers have lost none of their edge over the holiday season. Responding to the paper’s recent editorial lacerating the Harper regime’s science policy (“Whatever the government’s motives, whatever it understands or does not about how science works, it
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Sometimes Mockery Is the Best Weapon
H/t Vicki Denyer Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: What If?
Last evening, I was watching the 6:00 o’clock news, distracted and perturbed by the howling winds (up to 100 kms. per hour) buffeting our windows. Here in Southern Ontario, about 100 kilometres from the snowstorm that has devasted Buffalo, I can perhaps be forgiven for feeling especially sensitive to increasingly
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Score Another One For Rick
Another acerbic commentary from Canada’s conscience. Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Another Reason Not To Subscribe To The Globe and Mail
As I noted recently, we are currently receiving a free three-month subscription to the Globe, one that we will not be renewing. My last post on the subject dealt with one of the reasons. Here is another. In its ‘wisdom,’ and despite widespread evidence to the contrary, Canada’s self-proclaimed ‘newspaper
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Another Group Shames Harper
It is to be hoped that the closer we move to next year’s election, more and more Canadians will be wagging their fingers at Stephen Harper for his various acts of destruction in this country. For now, let’s enjoy the fact that this group is doing it for us: An
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Another Reminder Of The Regime Under Which We Chafe
I hope none of us forgets this, just one small part of the Harper programme to promote ignorance, stifle informed discussion, and ravage the environment. Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Fighting The Darkness
Knowledge is power, and withholding knowledge is crippling. So states scientist Sarah Otto, in an op-ed piece in today’s Star. Sadly, when we apply that truth to the Canadian reality, it becomes apparent that all of us are confined to metaphorical wheelchairs. Referring to a report released last week by
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: And Speaking of Disappearances…
It seems like the silence over the disappearing Environment Canada committee discussed in my previous post may have had its precedent set back in 2012, when another strange silence was orchestrated over another disappearance. Margaret Munro, in The Ottawa Citizen, reports new evidence of the Harper regime suppressing information Canadians
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: No Surprise Here- An Update
Tuesday’s post discussed the apparent disappearance of a committee made up of representatives from Environment Canada, the Alberta government and oil and gas companies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the tarsands. Investigative reporter Mike De Souza provides important new information about this committee on his website. Putting the heat
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: No Surprise Here – Part Two
Given Stephen Harper’s most recent demonstrated indifference to climate change, I report the following with no surprise, only a degree of tired resignation: Environment Canada appears to have quietly ended key discussions that were intended to tackle carbon pollution from the oil and gas industry. A committee made up of
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: No Surprise Here
Rather typical, wouldn’t you say?UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is hosting a major climate summit in New York on September 23, “to mobilize political will” towards reducing global emissions. U.S. President Barack Obama will be attending, as will U.K. Prime Minster David Cameron. In fact, 125 heads of state will
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Our Anti-Democratic Democracy
This morning, in my print edition of The Toronto Star, I saw the following headline: Canadian scientists to be placed in isolation. While it turned out to be a story about the evacuation of a Canadian medical team helping to fight Ebola in Sierra Leone, for a brief moment I
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