Canadian agriculture cuts have global consequences: dean Publish Date: 31-MAY-2013 03:44 PM Recent government cuts to Agriculture Canada could have a major global impact, particularly if the world population — and its appetite — continues to grow, said the dean of one of Canada’s top agriculture faculties. John Kennelly, dean of the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Agriculture, Life and Environmental Sciences, said the government’s decision to cut back on agricultural research comes at a time of a global food shortage.There is an international demand for more food, especially from major agriculture exporters like Canada, he said.
Science dealt another blow Publish Date: 11-MAY-2013 08:39 AM While the specific impacts of the federal government's announcement that some 700 employees may lose their jobs at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada labs and farms remain unknown, there should be no illusion that Saskatchewan will escape unscathed.
Saskatoon continues to host a major Agriculture Canada research facility on the university campus, but it isn't only through the potential loss of jobs that the pain will be felt. For more than 126 years, Agriculture Canada research has helped to make Canada, and Saskatchewan in particular, among the world's most important food-producing regions.
Research council’s makeover leaves Canadian industry setting the agenda Publish Date: 07-MAY-2013 08:40 AM The National Research Council, which gave the country canola and the atomic clock, will now be taking its scientific cues from Canadian industry as part of a makeover of the country’s flagship research labs.
The overhaul, quietly begun two years ago and formally unveiled Tuesday, means the 97-year-old NRC will focus on a clutch of large-scale, business-driven research projects at the expense of the basic science that was once at its core. The Conservative government says it wants to leverage the NRC’s world-class resources – everything from wind tunnels and ice tanks to high-powered microscopes – to help reverse the country’s chronically lagging innovation performance.
Canada losing ground in environmental and resource science, report says Publish Date: 26-SEP-2012 09:43 AM Canada is no longer a powerhouse in environmental and natural resources science, according to a comprehensive report to be released Thursday. “The overall decline in these fields is real,” reports a blue-ribbon panel asked by the federal government to assess the state of Canada’s science and technology.
It says the country continues to excel in health sciences and information and communications technologies and many other fields, but is losing ground in natural resources and environmental sciences, which were considered two of the country’s top four scientific strengths in 2006.
Carole Brodeur (French) Publish Date: 20-JUL-2010 01:05 PM Carole Brodeur works at the Food Research and Development Centre located in the Agri-food Science Park in Saint-Hyacinthe, QC.
Professional Institute Launches a Survey of Federal Scientists – June 6, 2013
Publish Date: 06-JUN-2013 08:45 AM
As part of the Institute’s ongoing efforts to support the government scientists it represents and to promote the importance public science, PIPSC is now conducting a survey of all members with science-based jobs.
CAUT “Get Science Right” Campaign – April 23, 2013
Publish Date: 04-APR-2013 09:47 AM
In response to increasing concerns about the integrity and independence of scientific research, the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) has launched a campaign to “Get Science Right”.
Recent government cuts to Agriculture Canada could have a major global impact, particularly if the world population — and its appetite — continues to grow, said the dean of one of Canada’s top agriculture faculties. John Kennelly, dean of the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Agriculture, Life and Environmental Sciences, said the government’s decision to cut back on agricultural research comes at a time of a global food shortage.There is an international demand for more food, especially from major agriculture exporters like Canada, he said.
DFO has declined an interview request with a scientist to discuss the environmental impacts of oilsands development because it objected to a recent Postmedia News report, a federal government spokesman wrote in an email. Fisheries and Oceans Canada is one of seven federal departments and agencies under investigation by Parliament’s Information Commissioner, Suzanne Legault, over allegations that the government is “muzzling” and restricting access to government scientists.
