Saltiest exchanges from all-party science debate

Science, technology and the environment have kept a low profile on the 2015 campaign trail: these issues rarely came up. But on Saturday, CBC Radio’s Quirks & Quarks is hosting what it describes as the only national all-party science debate.

The panel, taped earlier this week, features Conservative Gary Goodyear, former Minister of State for Science and Technology; Liberal Marc Garneau, former head of the Canadian Space Agency and astronaut; New Democrat Megan Leslie, environment critic; and the Green Party’s Lynne Quarmby, chair of Simon Fraser University’s Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry.

Here are some of the saltiest exchanges. The full debate airs noon Saturday. On science funding Gary Goodyear: Currently, we spend more than twice what the Liberals spent in their last year. We have not cut science, and in fact our science budget this year is over $10 billion . . . We are very strong in Canada on basic research. Where we fall down sometimes, as compared to other countries, is moving the knowledge that we discover in our laboratories out of the laboratory onto our factory floors where we can create jobs, and then off to the hospitals and living rooms of the world — which is how we make that home run. No longer is publishing an article the home run, as it once was. Lynne Quarmby: I would take issue with the statement that science funding is robust in this country . . . The fact is that basic scientific research is at starvation levels. Truly fundamental research, without an obvious immediate application, is starving. And that is the research that is feeding the creativity — it’s the source of new ideas, and new understanding about the world, that ultimately feeds innovation. On communication Megan Leslie: This is a huge problem. We’ve heard Gary Goodyear spin the heck out of several topics already, but you can’t spin the fact that we have evidence, through access to information requests, that scientists have to go through hundreds of processes and emails before they can even comment on a very basic issue. We know there’s all-time low morale in government departments especially when it comes to science. We know that federal scientists have been muzzled. Gary Goodyear: Megan, with all due respect, that is so spinning, most of us are dizzy. The fact is our scientists do thousands of media interviews every year. They publish articles. In fact, Canada is only a half a per cent of the population of the world, and our scientists publish 4.5 per cent of the articles around the world. They go to conferences around the world. They’re open to speak to media. As I say, the policy for scientists dealing with media is exactly the same as under the Liberal government . . . but we recognize there is some confusion and need to improve here. That’s exactly why we have mandated that all federally funded research be made available online and free of charge. On climate change Marc Garneau: Mr. Goodyear, you need to update your talking points. The only reason there was a momentary decrease in greenhouse gas production is because of initiatives taken by the provinces . . . to phase out coal-fired generating stations, to impose a tax in B.C. on petrol and because there was a recession which slowed down the economy. You had absolutely nothing to do with it. Gary Goodyear: It’s interesting to me, Marc, that when we do well, it’s somebody else that you credit, and when we do badly, it’s you that we blame. Your party signed a Kyoto accord, lied to the whole universe and had no intention of reducing greenhouse gases. In fact, you increased them. So I think that this is a good news story. And of course we have to do more. But as you yourself said, there’s a balance. I believe we’ve reached that balance, and rest assured we will continually look to further support global environmental commitments and eliminate inefficient fossil fuels. But it has to be done in a phased in approach so that we do not risk the financial securities of our families.