Just four years after creating the position of national science adviser, Canada is scrapping it at the end of this month.

Created by a Liberal government in 2004 (see Physics Today, March 2004, page 32 ), the position of science adviser suffered a blow in 2006 when the current Conservative government redirected the position to report to the research agency Industry Canada instead of to the prime minister. Arthur Carty, science adviser since the position’s inception, says the move meant he “has not had access to the highest levels of government over the past two years.” Nor, he adds, has the government sought his counsel since the reshuffling.

In a 1 February statement, Michèle Demers, president of the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada, a body that represents 55 000 scientists and other professionals, describes the scrapping of the science adviser post as “deeply disturbing” and calls...

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