The day he was sworn in as Canada’s prime minister last December, Paul Martin announced the creation of a national science adviser post. Stepping into the new shoes on 1 April is Arthur Carty, a synthetic chemist and president of the National Research Council (NRC) of Canada.
News of the resurrection of a high-level science post is being heartily welcomed by Canada’s science community. Three decades ago, the country had a science adviser to the cabinet—not, as now, to the prime minister. Martin also named Joe Fontana, a long-time member of parliament, to be parliamentary secretary for science and small business, another new position.
The moves are seen as evidence of the government’s commitment to science and technology and as a means to improve both the decisionmaking process in S&T and the communication between the science community and policymakers—and, by extension, the public. A couple of years ago, when Martin...
