Made in BC innovation supports veterans

5/27/2015

I can now provide more information on the program that I referenced in last week `s MP report. Last Friday I joined the Minister of Employment and Social Development, the Hon. Pierre Poilievre in announcing the new National Advanced Placement Prior Learning Program (N-APPL) for military veterans project, a project that originated from a proposal submitted by a local Peachland resident and his team at BCIT. This project is summarized as a Foreign Credential Recognition (FCR) project that will apply credential recognition for military work to help Canadian Forces members enter relevant training programs at BCIT and elsewhere to help transition to civilian employment. This will help them to receive their desired credentials faster and will let them apply their CAF training to a new and rewarding field. As mentioned last week this proposal was submitted to me by a local citizen, Mr. Fred Mandl of Peachland. I would like to publicly recognize and thank Mr.Mandl for this proposal that will help veterans increase skills training that in turn can help enhance employment opportunities. After speaking with young veterans who have already benefitted from the original BCIT based trial program, we can all be proud of this made in BC initiative being rolled out across Canada. There is also evidence that this ground breaking methodology could apply to other areas such as the trades. I will continue to encourage and support new approaches like these as they develop.

In Ottawa this week I participated in the debate regarding the subject of federal research scientists and allegations of Government sanctioned muzzling. As many citizens are aware we are fortunate in Okanagan-Coquihalla to have two federal research facilities in our region. Over the past years I have been fortunate to meet a number of scientists from these facilities to learn more about the important work they do and in turn I have also shared some of this information in the House of Commons. To date I have never had any of our local scientists suggest to me they are muzzled or otherwise prevented from sharing information with relevant stakeholders. We are fortunate in our region to have many dedicated scientists who are doing excellent work in support of local agriculture and also measurement science. In fact I often hear from citizens how much they enjoy reading local columns from Ken Tapping, an astronomer from the National Research Council’s Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory located in Okanagan Falls.

Another event that has generated a fair amount of discussion in Ottawa this week was an announcement from the Finance Minister that Government will undertake consultations over the summer on the topic of a voluntary expansion to the Canada Pension Plan (CPP). The topic being explored would be to allow for citizens to voluntarily increase their CPP contributions as a means to supplement their retirement savings. Most of the feedback I have heard on this subject so far has been supportive of this idea although a few individuals have suggested an increased CPP should be mandatory and not voluntary. I welcome your thoughts on this or any topic before the House of Commons. I can be reached via email at Dan.Albas@parl.gc.ca or toll free at 1-800-665-8711.

2 Comments

Dianne Varga

6/10/2015 04:04:12 pm

"Scientists afraid to speak out"

http://www.pentictonherald.ca/opinion/article_4ae92ae4-0fd5-11e5-99ea-bfd962c245c2.html

Posted: Wednesday, June 10, 2015 6:00 pm

Dear Editor:

I am a retired research scientist employed by Agriculture Canada for 40 years, and at the Pacific Agricultural Research Station (PARC), Summerland for 20 years. The muzzling of scientists by the present government is not a one-off situation that Dan Albas tries to portray in his last report. It is a systemic effort to control the flow of information coming from government research labs.

While government policy is the politician’s domain, the taxpayer pays for this information, and has a right to access it. And most scientists know the difference between policy and right-to-information.

During my career, I was free to communicate information to all who requested information, whether it was growers, the general public or other scientists. I was not once reprimanded for embarrassing my employer nor do I remember any instance of my colleagues being reprimanded.

Now scientists must have written permission to talk to the public or attend meetings. Questions are vetted ahead of time, the information is often delayed and some requests are outright denied. I’m unaware of any other democracy that manages its scientists and science programs like this.

Some of this egregious control has made the news. Dianne Varga’s reported several instances in letters to the editor (Herald, May 20). There is also a report of a journalist who requested information on snowflake counts done as a joint project of NRC and researchers in U.S.. Through the Freedom of Information Act he found a trail of emails that had been passed from supervisor to another to determine if the research should released; meanwhile, he got his information from the U.S. partners.

Does it happen at PARC? Yes, it does. Scientists at PARC have been denied at a ministerial level the right to speak about their research, although the supplicants had every right to ask for this information. The scientists have not spoken publicly about these incidents because they are afraid it will affect their careers. These are not allegations, and if I could without jeopardizing their jobs, I would prove it.

But I’ll put the ball back in Albas’s court. Can he find any scientist, who is willing to say that what I write is untrue?

In a democracy, we need policies that are evidence-based; governments do, or should do, public research on a need-to-know basis and the citizens have the right to the information without impediments.

Harvey Quamme
Penticton

Dianne Varga

6/10/2015 04:12:55 pm

"Unscientific life of Harper gov’t"

http://www.pentictonherald.ca/opinion/article_08a65a36-0a4d-11e5-a497-67cdc353261b.html

Posted: Wednesday, June 3, 2015 5:02 pm

Dear Editor:

In his latest MP Report, Dan Albas (Herald, May 27) remarks on “allegations” the federal government muzzles federal research scientists, saying scientists at the two federal research facilities in our region have never made similar complaints to him.

I think any scientist would agree that a lack of anecdotal evidence expressed in a limited number of conversations doesn’t mean that no evidence exists.

Across time, numerous government scientists have said they’ve been barred from speaking freely about their research. In one case, scientists at an international polar conference in 2012 were not allowed to speak to the media unless government employees were in attendance to monitor and record what they said.

It’s perhaps understandable why Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz interrupted one scientist and had him swept off stage, again in 2012. George DaPont, president of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, had been speaking about an extensive beef recall when Ritz intervened.

It’s harder to imagine why Scott Dallimore, a Natural Resources geologist, needed government approval to talk to journalists in 2010 about his study of a flood in Northern Canada almost 13,000 years ago.

The Canadian Science Writers’ Association explains the Harper government introduced media policies in 2006 to control not only scientists, but also journalists. Interviews and often the questions to be asked are now vetted ahead of time, and are sometimes denied outright or unduly delayed. In one instance, a request from The Canadian Press to interview Max Bothwell about his work on algae resulted in 110 pages of emails between 16 different government communications officers. The CP article went to press before Bothwell could be interviewed.

Just this month, recently retired Fisheries and Oceans Canada biologist Steve Campana described a research finding that he and his team were not allowed to disclose in Canada. One of his colleagues presented the work at a U.S. conference, and the story was published by 127 media outlets in 25 countries.

Trying to explain the clamp-down at home, Campana said he didn’t think it was as simple as science conflicting with government policy. “It’s hard to fathom,” he said. “It seems to be simply a control issue.”

Late last year, more than 800 scientists from 32 countries called on Harper to end “burdensome restrictions on scientific communication and collaboration faced by Canadian government scientists.” Canada’s leadership in basic research, environmental, health and other public science is in jeopardy, they said.

The clamp-down has also meant “a loss for the international science community."

Dianne Varga
Kelowna

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Made in BC innovation supports veterans

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