The People's Record

Canadian scientists protest absurd spending cuts

July 10, 2012

Several hundred Canadian scientists and their supporters held an unprecedented protest march on Tuesday to demonstrate against the government’s decision to close down major facilities and fire research staff.

The protesters, who say the right-of-center Conservative government dislikes science, walked through central Ottawa behind a woman dressed as the Grim Reaper and a coffin designed to mourn the “Death of Evidence”.

“Evidence is the way that adults navigate reality. To deny evidence is to live in a fairy world … when countries engage in fantasy it’s called state propaganda,” Simon Fraser University professor Arne Moores told a crowd of around 800 people gathered on Parliament Hill.

The Conservatives intend to stop funding an Arctic environment atmospheric research laboratory, a move U.S. scientists complain will harm the world’s ability to monitor the ozone layer.

Ottawa is also shutting down the Experimental Lakes Area in northern Ontario, which plays a major role in helping study the effects of water pollution. Budget cuts also mean hundreds of scientists and researchers will lose their jobs.

The government also plans to kill off its own environmental advisory agency.

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