More on Canada's National Science Advisor

Nearly two weeks ago, I posted a few words about the termination of the post of National Science Adviser.

He is being replaced by a 17-member panel that are only concerned with the prospect of commercializing science for the private industry ("The council will provide a yearly report card on whether federal spending is turning 'ideas into innovations,' as called for in Industry's science and technology strategy."), and will be limited to advising Industry Minister Jim Prentice only.

So problems that this panel could raise and discuss - climate change for instance - would be immediately categorized as problems exclusive to industry, not a mix of industry and government. Of course, the panel contains more businessmen, university bureaucrats, and science-poor deputy ministers than actual, in-the-know scientists (surprise, surprise).

Even Preston Manning is not impressed with science being listed as just one item in the Industry portfolio. And look at what he wrote for his third point:

"3. Our Parliament has no scientist general (an officer of Parliament like the Auditor General) or a parliamentary office of science and technology (as in Great Britain) to provide members with access to needed scientific expertise, including that required to adjudicate between conflicting scientific opinions."

Hmmmm....doesn't that sound an awful lot like the post of National Science Adviser, which was just terminated?