Grouping: Science Policy

Joint Communiqué (Dated 2010 September 3) Over the past week we, as representatives of the scientific societies listed below, have been dealing with a proposed amendment to the definition of “practice of professional engineering” in the Ontario Professional Engineers Act through the Open for Business Act, 2010 (Bill 68). This Act removes an existing exemption… Read more »

On August 19th the CAP became aware that the Ontario legislative Bill-68 includes modifications to the Ontario Engineering Act. One of these changes would result in the removal of the exemption for natural scientists, which could make it difficult or impossible for natural scientists to practise their profession in Ontario, and perhaps eventually in most… Read more »

For the second year in a row, through the efforts of Paul Vincett, the Science Policy Committee and the CAP Executive, the CAP has submitted a brief to the House of Commons Finance Committee as part of the budget consultation process.  We should hear by mid-September if we are being asked to appear before the committee… Read more »

To submit your recommendations please log in to www.cap.ca/services and select the “HCFC 2010 Poll” link found on the left. As in 2009, CAP would like your input on what recommendations (maximum 3) CAP should make in its Brief to the House of Commons Finance Committee (HCFC), and should emphasize in other lobbying efforts. Some possible… Read more »

Budget 2010: Starting to Get the Messageby Robert Mann, President, Canadian Association of Physicists Looks like they’re starting to get the message. That’s the short answer to the question that so often gets asked around Budget time about government support for research and innovation in science and technology. This year’s Budget represents a clear, if… Read more »

The following are the research-related highlights from the 2010 Federal budget.  Except where noted, all of these items are new funding. Additional $13M/yr to NSERC (base budget), including $8M/yr to strengthen support for “advanced” (i.e. presumably basic) research and $5M/yr for closer research collaborations between academia and the private sector   (it appears that the lobbying… Read more »

The Canadian Association of Physicists (CAP) has inaugurated a new category of Charter Membership in the Science Media Centre of Canada (SMCC) – one reserved for Canadian scientific societies. Suzanne Corbeil, SMCC steering committee chair, said the special category was created to reinforce the many collaborations that the Centre expects with scientists. “Essential to operations… Read more »

The House of Commons Finance Committee (HCFC) reported to Parliament on December 9.  Amongst its recommendations: “Moreover, consistent with the jurisdiction of the provinces and territories, the government should increase its support to research through federal granting councils and research agencies as well as for the indirect costs of research. As well, the government should… Read more »

The Canadian Science Policy Conference was held in Toronto on October 28-30. It was the brainchild of Dr. Mehrdad Hariri, a postdoctoral fellow from the McLaughlin-Rotman Centre for Global Health in Toronto and 19 other individuals, virtually all of whom were graduate students and postdocs, mostly from the health field. An ambitious endeavour, with 400… Read more »

On Wednesday October 21 Robert Mann, CAP President, appeared before the House of Commons Finance Committee (HCFC) to speak to the brief that the CAP submitted to the committee in August. He was accompanied by Dominic Ryan of McGill University, Friend of CAP and President of the Canadian Institute for Neutron Scattering. Please view the… Read more »