A bad-tempered exchange at a medical-cannabis conference has highlighted a strong disagreement between the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) and some of its members on how medical cannabis should be regulated when the drug becomes legal. Read more in CMAJ.
policy
Canada’s innovation gap remains, new report finds
Investment in R&D as a share of GDP has steadily declined since 2001, mainly due to low business R&D expenditures, says expert panel. Canada has maintained its strong performance in research and education but is falling ever further behind in industrial R&D, innovation and wealth creation, according to a new reporton the state of science and […]
Researchers gear up for cannabis legalization
The community is eager to track the wide-ranging social, economic and health impacts of this historic shift in public policy. Sometime later this year, if all goes as planned, Canada will usher in what University of Calgary health policy researcher Fiona Clement calls “the largest cultural change in my lifetime” – cannabis will cease to be […]
Canadian science wins billions in new budget
Researchers pleased with unfettered funding for granting councils. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s administration released its 2018 budget on 27 February and scientists couldn’t be happier. It includes almost Can$4 billion (US$3.1 billion) in new funding for science over the next five years, a significant portion of which will go to the country’s three granting […]
Half of Canada’s government scientists still feel muzzled
More than half of government scientists in Canada—53%—do not feel they can speak freely to the media about their work, even after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government eased restrictions on what they can say publicly, according to a survey by a union that represents more than 16,000 federal scientists. Read more in Science.
Climate researchers press Trudeau to renew Canadian Arctic research program
The Canadian government should renew funding for a soon-to-end Arctic climate and atmospheric research program, a group of more than 250 international climate scientists is arguing in an open letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Read more in Science.
National Research Council lays out a four-year reform plan
This latest overhaul of the NRC aims to boost engagement, restore lost morale. The National Research Council of Canada will set up a postdoctoral program, appoint a chief scientific adviser and establish a president’s research excellence committee as part of the lat-est round of reforms at the agency. The four-year reform plan, the result of […]
Canada names new chief science adviser
Mona Nemer, a cardiology researcher and vice president of research at the University of Ottawa, has been named Canada’s new chief science adviser by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. “Scientists need to have a voice,” Trudeau said, making the announcement in Ottawa today. Nemer’s office will have a CA$2 million budget, and she will report to […]
Saving Canada’s Wild Salmon Policy
Canada already has a forward-thinking salmon management plan on the books. Now it just needs to implement it. When Canada’s Policy for Conservation of Wild Pacific Salmon was announced in 2005, it was hailed as a major step forward for fisheries management in the country. “It was a blueprint for how to manage, rebuild, and […]
Federal government getting pressed on many sides to adopt Naylor report
Researchers, university administrators, students and others across Canada rally in an unprecedented effort to ensure the government doesn’t ignore the report’s recommendations. Canada’s academic community has launched a full court press to encourage the government to adopt the recommendations of the report of Canada’s Fundamental Science Review panel, also known as the Naylor report. The report, requested […]