Getting it right: Canadian conservatives and the "war on science"

Abstract

Critics paid considerable attention to the Harper Conservative government's record on science and technology. Cuts to funding and resources in these sectors, numerous environmentally-questionable policies, and charges of information control over Canada's scientific community served as evidence for many that Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government and its supporters held an "anti-science" ideology and were engaged in a "war on science." However, the government continued to make financial and rhetorical investments into science and technology to promote economic prosperity and boost Canadian national identity based on "innovation." This article investigates the claim that the Harper Conservatives were "anti-science," and asks whether this label is an adequate appraisal of the Canadian Right's disposition toward science, or is beneficial to discussions on science and the public interest.