Science
9 October 2015:
Vol. 350 no. 6257 p. 143
DOI: 10.1126/science.350.6257.143
Vol. 350 no. 6257 p. 143
DOI: 10.1126/science.350.6257.143
- In Depth
Science is making a rare appearance in
Canada's election. As candidates make their last push before Election
Day on 19 October,
the nation's leading opposition parties have
taken aim at Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper's science
policies, which
have alienated large segments of the nation's
scientific community. Science policy isn't a top concern for most voters
in
the election, which could send new members of
Parliament and a new prime minister to Ottawa. But some research
advocates hope
the issue could move enough ballots to sway what
appears to be a tight three-way race between Harper's Conservatives,
the
New Democratic Party (NDP) led by Tom Mulcair,
and the Liberal Party led by Justin Trudeau. "Science could be the
sleeper
issue," says Kennedy Stewart, the NDP's
spokesman on science issues and a member of Parliament.
-
↵* in St. Stephen, Canada. Brian Owens is a freelance science writer in St. Stephen, Canada.