Comment pubs.acs.org/est
Out of the Woods
E
negotiator for the United Nations peacekeeping mission in East Timor, she brings experience with tackling difficult issues requiring negotiation and compromise. Stéphane Dion, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, one of the senior positions in cabinet, is also tasked with addressing climate change. Dion, a former leader of the Liberal Party who chaired the climate summit in Montreal in 2005 and was Minister of the Environment from 2004 to 2006, is the chair of the newly formed cabinet committee on climate change. This committee will include nine ministers in recognition of the need to fully integrate climate change into the workings of government departments. These moves signal that Trudeau sees climate change as a key issue. Although it is too early to gauge what the new government will be able to accomplish, the Liberals ran on a platform that included many promises for environmental protection and restoration of environmental sciences. The party promised to phase out subsidies for the fossil fuel industry, develop national greenhouse gas emission reduction targets, and set a price on carbon. They have promised to restore the Experimental Lakes Area that was defunded by the previous government and rescued by the International Institute for Sustainable Development, a nonprofit think tank. Another promise is to restore $1.5 million to freshwater research and to promote the protection of fresh water and oceans. They have also promised to invest in additional Canada Research Chairs at universities in the area of clean technology and to bolster spending on clean technologies by $100 million annually. While the Prime Minister and ministers in charge of government departments have changed and campaign promises are on record, it will take time and skill to change laws, policies, and practices to meet these promises. With optimism prevailing among many Canadians, hopes are running high that the new Trudeau government will reinstate Canada as a global leader in environmental science and protection.
nvironmental science, and science more broadly, operates at the behest of governments and ideally, the people charged with electing those governments. Scientists typically eschew political involvement, but are impacted by political decisions to downplay the role of scientific evidence by slashing research budgets, attacking research infrastructure, and limiting the voice of government scientists. When the government changes, these actions can be reversed. To support governance based on evidence, researchers need to develop strategies to weather the storm and need to communicate to elected officials and the public that science is essential, irrespective of one’s political philosophy. Recent events in Canada illustrate this dynamic. On November 4, 2015, Justin Trudeau was sworn in as the 23rd Prime Minister of Canada. The election ended nine years of governance by Stephen Harper and his Conservative government as Canadians gave Trudeau’s Liberal party a decisive majority of seats in Parliament. In the lead-up to the election, Canadian scientists for the first time lobbied the political parties to include in their platforms concrete plans to repair the public science infrastructure diminished by the Harper government. During their term in office, the Harper government became known internationally for muzzling government scientists, dismantling environmental monitoring programs, and cutting staff and funding at science agencies. With a new party in power, Canadians and Canadian scientists are wondering, has the country turned a corner? Insight into this question comes from looking at Trudeau’s new cabinet and actions taken just 1 week after coming into office. The cabinet has two newly created positions with responsibility for science. Navdeep Bains is the new Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, broadening responsibilities from the former Minister in charge of Industry Canada. Kirsty Duncan, with a PhD in medical geography, is the new the Minister of Science. The intent of forming two portfolios dealing with science is to separate pure science from applied science with the latter’s ties to economic development. One recent promise made has been to appoint a chief science advisor, a position eliminated by the previous government. Bains was quoted as saying, “Our government values science and will treat scientists with respect. That is why government scientists and experts will be able to speak freely about their work to the media and the public.” Trudeau marked a clear departure from the previous government’s policies by renaming Environment Canada, the country’s environmental protection agency, to Environment and Climate Change Canada. With the Paris climate talks only a few weeks away, Trudeau’s choice to include Climate Change under the environment portfolio sends a strong signal that Canada intends to be an active participant in climate change negotiations. In fact, Prime Minister Trudeau has committed to attending the climate conference in Paris as a direct show of support for these negotiations. The new Minister of Environment and Climate Change is Catherine McKenna, a lawyer in international trade and competition. With experience as a © 2015 American Chemical Society
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Miriam L. Diamond* AUTHOR INFORMATION
Corresponding Author
*E-mail:
[email protected]. Notes
Views expressed in this editorial are those of the author and not necessarily the views of the ACS. The authors declare no competing financial interest.
Published: December 1, 2015 13905
DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.5b05653 Environ. Sci. Technol. 2015, 49, 13905−13905
