
Canada creates science-minister post - DrScump
http://www.nature.com/news/canada-creates-science-minister-post-1.18739
======
cperciva
It will be interesting to see how this plays out in practice. One of the
constraints on the Cabinet is that Trudeau promised that it would be gender-
balanced; unfortunately, the pool of MPs from which he was selecting Cabinet
members was not (134 men vs. 50 women; the imbalance is even worse if you look
at experienced MPs).

There are six major portfolios -- Finance, Treasury Board, Justice, Foreign
Affairs, Defence, and Intergovernmental relations -- and of those five of the
ministers are men. Then there are 11 portfolios which I'd say are important
but fairly self-contained -- things like International Trade, Health, and
Fisheries -- and 6/11 of those are held by men. The other 14 posts are what
would typically be considered "junior minister" positions, and that's where
most of the women ended up. [1]

This gives me a strong impression that some people were brought in as
"diversity representatives" and then portfolios were created in order to
justify their presence, rather than the portfolios being created because they
were deemed important and then the best qualified candidates sought to fill
them; it would be nice to think otherwise, but I've learned to be cynical
where politics is concerned. Unfortunately, while inviting people to the table
has great optics, it doesn't necessarily result in anyone listening to them
once they arrive.

[1] You can argue about which portfolios are major vs. minor vs. junior;
there's no hard rules here. But I don't think you could find a plausible
classification which didn't show a heavy skew towards males filling the most
important roles.

~~~
ghshephard
If anything, I consider that a positive sign, that Trudeau is focussing on
meritocratic rather than purely political concerns. One of the worries about
him was that he would bend to political correctness, and make a hash of
everything.

Well, he still might - but being a bit practical minded is pretty good. And
his new Minister of Defense looks pretty Bad Ass.
[http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/harjit-
sajjan...](http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/harjit-sajjan-
badass-canada-defence-minister-1.3304931)

~~~
cperciva
Fair enough. I'd prefer to get rid of the "fake" portfolios and simply have
"Minister without portfolio" for the members who are added for the purpose of
diversity, though.

------
mmastrac
This is something of a reaction to the last ten years of anti-science rhetoric
from the former governing party. I'm happy to see it in place and especially
happy that we are no longer muzzling our scientists.

~~~
saeranv
Yes, and also (former PM) Harper's abysmal record on climate change.

------
randomname2
Just wondering, won't this create even more politicization of science?

~~~
kardos
Well, the previous guy was quite bad for science [1] [2] [3]. Perhaps you can
elaborate as to how things could get worse?

[1] [http://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/hundreds-of-world-s-
scientist...](http://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/hundreds-of-world-s-scientists-
urge-harper-to-end-funding-cuts-1.2063474) [2]
[http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/research-library-s-
clo...](http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/research-library-s-closure-
shows-harper-government-targets-science-at-every-turn-union-says-1.3199761)
[3] [http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/research-cutbacks-by-
gover...](http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/research-cutbacks-by-government-
alarm-scientists-1.2490081)

~~~
randomname2
Some issues in science are already very politicized, with the left and the
right being on different sides of an argument, often with religious fervor.

A separate portfolio and government bureaucracy means more money and power to
the party in charge in terms of influencing science, which could easily be
misused for harrassing scientists and institutions. There is also the implicit
threat of cutting off funding for research, effectively silencing any
viewpoints that may be against the agenda of the party in charge.

Just to illustrate, if in your opinion the "previous guy" was bad for science,
imagine him in charge of this bureaucracy, with Lois Lerner-type harrassment
and promotion of research that would be offensive to other political parties.

~~~
icegreentea
The "last guy" did what you described already. The federal government has
always had significant control over funding levels of both government
scientific agencies, as well as funding for research, just with the
responsibility diffused among different ministries and agencies. The Harper
government introduced significant cuts in funding from both pools, regardless
of the degree of centralization of responsibility.

------
dovdov
They already had a Minister of Mobile Gaming post, so what?

------
serge2k
> Kirsty Duncan, a medical geographer at the University of Toronto, will be
> the first to hold the job. Duncan, who contributed to the 2001 report of the
> Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

Climate change, not a surprise.

> “If we take it at face value, we now have two ministers responsible for
> science,” says Rees Kassen

Sure do, might have something to do with this being about winning an election.

~~~
hugh4
You'd think that if anywhere on Earth stands to benefit from global warming
it's Canada.

~~~
1971genocide
Actually - it depends.

Climate Change is intensifying the summers and winters in canada.

Notice the increased number of forest fires per year.

And the winters will also be worse.

~~~
jarek
Lower Mainland B.C. had a water shortage; skiing around Vancouver was dreadful
early last winter because it was too warm so recreation and tourism impacted;
more frequent and severe floods in the Prairies; more summer storms leading to
localized floods in southern Ontario; etc etc.

Up north might get warmer but it would still be a huge undertaking to move
impacted people from the south where they currently live.

~~~
jarek
To put some context into that: In the last 10 years, Alberta has had a
"1-in-200-year" flood in 2005 ([https://ec.gc.ca/meteo-
weather/default.asp?lang=En&n=A4DD5AB...](https://ec.gc.ca/meteo-
weather/default.asp?lang=En&n=A4DD5AB5-1)) followed by a three-times-heavier
flood in 2013
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Alberta_floods](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Alberta_floods),
[https://ec.gc.ca/meteo-
weather/default.asp?lang=En&n=5BA5EAF...](https://ec.gc.ca/meteo-
weather/default.asp?lang=En&n=5BA5EAFC-1&offset=2&toc=show)).

Just because it's cold in the winter doesn't mean global warming will be good.

~~~
Phithagoras
I'd say that the Maritime provinces have been taking more of the flood/storm
damage the last few years. The 2013 flood in Southern Alberta was (or so I was
told) was due to a sudden set of warm days in the mountains, and a great deal
of the snow suddenly melted. That was a bit of a one off weather event. If you
google storms in the maritime provinces for the past few years, you can see
that they have been hit far harder than Alberta.
[http://www.theweathernetwork.com/news/articles/atlantic-
stor...](http://www.theweathernetwork.com/news/articles/atlantic-storm-a-
timeline-of-events-/45509/)
[http://www.journalpioneer.com/News/Local/2014-03-27/article-...](http://www.journalpioneer.com/News/Local/2014-03-27/article-3665998/One-
of-the-worst-storms-of-the-year-shuts-down-P.E.I./1)
[http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/storms-
co...](http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/storms-
complicate-2014-celebration-preps-1.2478833)
[http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/maritimes-
soake...](http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/maritimes-soaked-as-
heavy-rain-knocks-out-power-cancels-classes/article26610492/) are just a few
examples

