NDP TABLES PLAN TO END CONSERVATIVE MUZZLING OF FEDERAL SCIENTISTS
NDP TABLES PLAN TO END CONSERVATIVE MUZZLING OF FEDERAL SCIENTISTS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 16, 2013
OTTAWA – While public protests take place across Canada to Stand Up For Science, Official Opposition Science & Technology Critic Kennedy Stewart challenged the Conservative government to end its continued muzzling of federal scientists and researchers in government departments. Dr. Stewart’s motion would ensure communications officers, elected officials, and Ministerial staff could no longer restrict public access to government scientists.
“The Conservatives have used every tool in their disposal to attack scientific integrity and muzzle scientists working in the civil service,” said MP Kennedy Stewart (Burnaby-Douglas). “By interfering with the open communication of scientific research, this government is undermining our capacity to make democratic decisions using the best evidence available.”
Based on recent directives issued by the Obama Administration, the NDP motion calls on all federal departments and agencies conducting scientific research to implement communication policies that actively encourage scientists to speak freely to journalists and share their research with Canadians.
“The new Minister of State for S&T should be standing up for science in federal departments. Instead, his government is running from accountability and transparency by shutting down Parliament again. Canadians deserve better and our scientists deserve real support,” continued Dr. Stewart, an Associate Professor on leave from Simon Fraser University’s School of Public Policy.
Motion on Scientific Integrity (Communications)
That, in the opinion of the House, federal departments and agencies conducting scientific research should identify, develop, and implement communication policies that:
(i) actively support and encourage federal scientists to speak freely to the media and the public about scientific and technical matters based on their official research, including scientific and technical ideas, approaches, findings, and conclusions;
(i) allow federal scientists to present viewpoints that extend beyond their scientific research and incorporate their expert or personal opinions providing they specify they are not speaking on behalf of, or as a representative, of their department or agency;
(iii) ensure that public affairs or communications officers, elected officials, and Ministerial staff do not restrict, limit, or prevent federal scientists from responding to media requests in a timely and accurate manner;
(iv) prohibit public affairs or communications officers, elected officials, and Ministerial staff from directing federal scientists to suppress or alter their findings;
and (v) affirm the right of federal scientists to review, approve, and comment publicly on the final version of any proposed publication that significantly relies on their research, identifies them as an author or contributor, or purports to represent their scientific opinion.
NDP TABLES PLAN TO END CONSERVATIVE MUZZLING OF FEDERAL SCIENTISTS
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Aboriginal people hardest hit by HIV in B.C.
Aboriginal people hardest hit by HIV in B.C.
Aboriginal people are more likely to contract HIV, become infected younger, receive treatment later and die sooner than other British Columbians, says the B.C. Ministry of Health. Aboriginal communities often struggle with problems that make both prevention of HIV infections and accessing treatment difficult, said Dr. Dee Hoyano, Vancouver Island Health Authority medical health officer. “We know aboriginal people are disproportionately more affected by HIV,” she said. First Nations members on Vancouver Island make up 5.8 per cent of the population, but account for 11 per cent of HIV cases…First Nations are Canada’s most vulnerable citizens and their HIV plight is complicated by the fact that responsibility for their health care is shared by federal and provincial governments, said Libby Davies, an NDP MP from Vancouver, who is federal Opposition health critic. “HIV/AIDS in the aboriginal community is a very serious issue, but this is something the federal government has direct responsibility for in terms of aboriginal people on reserves,” she said.
The original article, Aboriginal people hardest hit by HIV in B.C. was published on August 9, 2013 in Victoria Times Colonist. Author(s): Katherine Dedyna, Judith Lavoie
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B.C. a leader in offering free tests, treatment to reduce HIV cases – Libby Davies
B.C. a leader in offering free tests, treatment to reduce HIV cases
B.C. leads the country in tackling HIV, but experts worry the lack of a nationwide strategy puts all Canadians at a higher risk of contracting the infection. If HIV were avian flu, Ottawa would mandate a national strategy to fight it, said Dr. Julio Montaner, director of the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS. Instead, he said, “the federal government has continuously refused to get involved in the fight against HIV and AIDS. They feel that this is somebody else’s problem.” Experts credit that success to the province’s efforts to make early diagnosis and treatment a key part of its strategy to decrease transmission, illness and death…The B.C. approach to circumventing HIV and AIDS is “a tremendous success story,” and B.C. is unquestionably the national leader in fighting the infection, said Libby Davies, an NDP MP from Vancouver and the federal Opposition health critic. But Davies called the federal government both short-sighted and “incredibly irresponsible” in failing to create a national HIV policy based on Montaner’s progress. The all-party Standing Committee on Health’s recent study on health innovations failed to even mention HIV, said Davies, vice-chairwoman of the Conservative-dominated committee. That was despite Montaner testifying to the commitee about the need for federal leadership.
The original article, B.C. a leader in offering free tests, treatment to reduce HIV cases was published on August 7, 2013 in Victoria Times Colonist. Author(s): Katherine Dedyna
Ottawa should regulate some drug prep firms in wake of chemo scare: report
Ottawa should regulate some drug prep firms in wake of chemo scare: report
TORONTO — Health Canada should regulate all entities that mix drugs outside a licensed pharmacy, said an expert who investigated why more than 1,200 cancer patients in two provinces received diluted chemotherapy drugs. Ottawa should step in because it's a "cross-border issue," Dr. Jake Thiessen said Wednesday after releasing his report commissioned by the Ontario government. "I believe in the safe and best interests of the nation of Canada, we need an agency that has national authority to actually regulate all of this," he said… "The federal government has to step up to the plate, they have to be proactive, they have to fill this loophole," said NDP health critic Libby Davies. "The issue of drug safety and Canadians' health is at risk here, as it has been."
The original article, Ottawa should regulate some drug prep firms in wake of chemo scare: report was published on August 7, 2013 in CTV News. Author(s): Maria Babbage