HALIFAX – Scientists, professors and students joined opposition MPs at Dalhousie University on Monday afternoon, in a rally to support science. Participants say federal government cuts have hampered scientists and their research in Canada.
The Halifax event was one of 16 rallies held nationwide, including two in New Brunswick. It was initiated by Evidence for Democracy, a non-partisan organization that’s concerned about Bill C-38, which repealed and changed various environmental laws.
Elizabeth May, leader of the Green Party of Canada, says the federal government has a poor record of supporting science and research.
“We’ve never seen any political party go to war against science,” she said. “Only Stephen Harper has done this. The core departments that used to do a lot of science — so Fisheries and Oceans, Environment Canada — we’re seeing those departments lose scientists. They’re hemorrhaging scientists.”
Scientists say the loss of funding has been detrimental to government research labs.
“The kind of things we could do before, we just can’t do,” said Dalhousie University professor Tom Duck. “This goes all the way from monitoring fish stocks to understanding what’s going on in our oceans, all the way to our waterways and monitoring our airways. It goes all across the board.”
The next generation of students is worried about the lack of government support as well. PhD student Alana Westwood says she struggles to find funding.
“These cuts mean that the stipend that I live on is very, very low and they also mean it’s next to impossible to get research projects funded,” she said. “I have to scrape together pieces from here and there in order to try and sustain my degree.”
If the situation does not improve, Westwood says her job prospects will be bleak once she graduates. She anticipates leaving Canada to find work.
Along with others at the rally, she is appealing to the Prime Minister to improve funding for scientific research when the next parliamentary session gets underway.
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