Minister stays mum on ‘radicals’ letter
Tories won’t say who wrote note blaming ‘ideologue’ scientists
The federal minister responsible for promoting scientific research isn’t commenting on a political fundraising letter that allegedly suggested some scientists were “radical ideologues” out to get him.
The letter, reported on by iPolitics, asked Conservatives for money to help the minister, Greg Rickford, counter criticism in a published opinion piece written by scientists who did research at the Experimental Lakes Area, a world-renowned Canadian water research facility,
“We can’t let these attacks go unanswered,” said a leaked version of the fundraising letter. “Even as little as $5 can have a large impact in helping Greg.”
Despite the media report and repeated questions from Postmedia News, officials from the Conservative party, Rickford’s riding association and his ministerial office would not confirm or deny who drafted or sent the letter.
The fundraising letter said the criticism “was written by the same group of radical ideologues who have (led) a campaign about misinformation about Greg’s work to protect the Experimental Lakes Area.”
Rickford’s office was not able to provide any examples of his work to protect the facility, which previously received about $2 million in annual federal funding until cuts announced following the 2012 federal budget. The fundraising letter featured the Conservative party logo and appears to have been signed by a local riding association president.
“Nobody likes being called a name,” said Britt Hall, an associate professor of biology at the University of Regina and a co-author of the piece that criticized Rickford’s record. “I’m not surprised, but (allegedly) linking us to a fundraising effort in the guise of making sure that we are defeated is a little bit rich.”
The Experimental Lakes Area hosted research that was instrumental in developing the North American treaty cracking down on smokestack pollution linked to acid rain and it has also supported research used to develop regulations to crack down on water pollution from liquid detergents.
Consisting of dozens of lakes in Western Ontario, the site is being kept open through funding from the province in partnership with the Manitoba-based International Institute for Sustainable Development and the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans.
Liberal science critic Ted Hsu said that if the letter did come from Conservatives, he finds it appalling that they would “slander some scientists for the sake of a few bucks.” NDP environment critic Megan Leslie described the fundraising campaign as “Orwellian” but added that Tories typically “fundraised on the back of fear.”