Canada's PM cuts research and damages environmental legislation

A white lab coat demonstration is expected to take place this week in protest at cuts to research and environmental legislation budgets, the Guardian have reported.

Scientists will march through the Canadian city of Ottowa in protest to Stephen Harper's science and environmental agenda. Harper has been Prime Minister in the country since 2006, and many commentators believe he takes a pro-industrialisation angle to environmental policy.

The PM has been accused of pushing through a number of policies which weaken or abandon environmental protection in order to allow for greater industrialisation of Alberta tar sands. The government has also been accused of jeopardising Canada's scientific reputation by shutting down the Experimental Lakes Area (ELA), a research station that produced critical evidence to help stop acid rain.

Professor John Smol, a freshwater lake biologist at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario said: "In my view there are a lot of attempts in this country, and other countries too, to push through resource-based economies.

"People working at ELA are constantly finding reasons why you can't just put a pipeline here, or an industry there, because there are going to be environmental costs."

A spokeswoman for Gary Goodyear, the minister of state for science and technology, has hit back at the claims, saying that the government remains committed to funding science. He said: "Our government has made historic investments in science, technology and research to create jobs, grow our economy, and improve the quality of life for Canadians."

But Canadian government officials also indirectly confirmed that Harper was far more interested in funding research with direct industry applications than funding science simply for environmental purposes.

"As a country we have been lagging behind our peer nations on applied research and commercialisation and our government is taking steps to correct that," the official told the Guardian.

The source also provided a list of new projects supported by the government. Among the largest was $105m for marketing forest products.

Posted by Joseph Hutton