OTTAWA - The Harper government has begun
its slashing of the public sector by eliminating more than twenty percent of the
National Research Council’s budget. This is in addition to the 50 jobs cut at
Environment Canada, including scientists and scientific support staff. “The
targeting of science and research will not help Canada’s economy in the long
term. Specifically, a picture is now emerging of deep cuts to climate sciences,”
said Green Leader Elizabeth May, MP for Saanich-Gulf Islands. “Science and
research are at the very foundation of a future-oriented economy that needs to
be resilient and stable in the face of global changes.”
The National Research Council is under the purview of the
Industry Minister and employs more than four thousand people across Canada in
more than 20 institutes with a broad array of programs focused on leading-edge
research and innovation.
“The government must be upfront and transparent about all of
its planned layoffs. The Canadian economy will not be served well by losing all
of our highly trained public servants working on key scientific questions,” said
May. “Without our scientists, Canada will very quickly fall behind in the global
knowledge-based economy. We need to better prioritize our spending with long
term planning in mind.”
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