Fans of environmental science can now play a direct role in helping Canada’s unique Experimental Lakes Area continue to do the research it has done for decades. The International Institute for Sustainable Development, based in Winnipeg, took over running the ELA on 1 April, after the federal government eliminated funding for the decades-old environmental research […]
Canada
Be wary of “prescribing” medical marijuana, CMA warns
Canadian physicians should be wary of “prescribing” medical marijuana under new regulations that come into effect on Apr. 1, 2014, says the president of the Canadian Medical Association. “For the CMA, nothing has really changed,” says Dr. Hugo Francescutti. “Our stand has always been that there is insufficient scientific evidence to support the use of marijuana for […]
Don’t let my failure put you off, Ignatieff tells academics
Michael Ignatieff’s failed bid for Canada’s highest office must not put off other intellectuals from trying, he tells Research Canada editor Brian Owens. The first thing Michael Ignatieff wants people to know, when discussing his thwarted political career, is that he is not bitter about the way it turned out. “I’m glad I did it, […]
Backyard Hockey A Bellwether For Climate Change
Volunteers track shifts in temperature with their homemade rinks. Outdoor hockey games on suburban backyard rinks are an iconic part of the culture in Canada. Wayne Gretzky famously learned his trade on a homemade rink his father created every winter, and until recently the image of children skating on a frozen pond was featured on […]
Canadian government accused of destroying environmental archives
Researchers fear that valuable documents will disappear as libraries close and merge. Scientists in Canada are up in arms over the recent closure of more than a dozen federal science libraries run by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) and Environment Canada. The closures were mostly completed by last autumn, but hit the headlines last week […]
New Brunswick drug plan hopes to avoid pitfalls of other provinces
New Brunswick waited a long time for a prescription drug plan but it may now have the best one in Canada, according to Steve Morgan, who studies pharmaceutical policy at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. “New Brunswick learned not to make the mistake of the western provinces, which only cover prescription drugs costs […]
Lakes scientists ‘surplus’ to fisheries ministry requirements
Researchers at the Experimental Lakes Area have received letters from Fisheries and Oceans Canada declaring their positions to be “surplus”, and offering them jobs elsewhere in the ministry, Research Canada has learned. The letters were expected, as the government department has ended funding for the environmental research station and is working to transfer ownership of […]
Does parliament need a science watchdog?
The NDP is making a play for the science vote. At last week’s Canadian Science Policy Conference the party’s science critic, Kennedy Stewart, unveiled the third plank in the opposition’s slowly developing science policy: an independent Parliamentary Science Officer (PSO). Stewart will table his proposal in the house this week as a private member’s bill – it would create […]
Risk of tick-borne infections on the rise
Canadians should be prepared for a big increase in the rates of tick-borne diseases like Lyme disease in the coming years, as milder winters make the country more hospitable for the bugs, according to a New Brunswick biologist. Vett Lloyd, who studies ticks at Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick, has seen a 6–8-fold […]
Canada’s CIDA reform could aid innovation work
Innovation and technology development could be boosted by the controversial merger of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) with the country’s foreign affairs department, according to the head of a group that represents Canadian NGOs. But CIDA should be careful not to neglect development at the expense of foreign affairs and trade interests through the new arrangement, says Julia Sánchez, […]