Federal government cutting $3 billion from rail safety, health and environmental science: union

OTTAWA – The federal government will cut $2.6 billion in spending and nearly 5,000 jobs from its science-focused departments between 2013 and 2016, says a report released Thursday by a union representing government scientists and professionals.

The report, which includes survey data showing a majority of scientists believe their departments are weakening efforts to protect Canadians and the environment, highlights the departure of key experts who did research on rail safety and public health, as well as the recent review of Enbridge’s Northern Gateway pipeline proposal.

The survey results by Environics Research found that an overwhelming percentage of federal scientists and other members of the union — the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada — believed recently adopted legislation and policies accompanying the cuts are causing the federal government to fail its duties to control air and water pollution and other impacts of industrial activity.

The union estimated that despite recent economic stimulus spending, the federal government has already cut $596 million in science and technology budgets and the equivalent of more than 2,000 positions over the past five years, eliminating what the union describes as Canadian public interest science.

“Many of the cuts have eliminated any hope – at least for the foreseeable future – of policies based on evidence,” concludes the report, entitled Vanishing Science. “The government’s credibility, already in tatters after numerous financial fiascos ranging from the true costs of purchasing new F-35 fighter jets to the false expense claims of the Duffy-Wright Senate scandal, has frayed to the point that its assurance such cuts will be neither seen nor felt hangs on the slenderest of threads.”

One of the retired federal experts, former Transport Canada engineer Jean-Pierre Gagnon, left the government in March 2013, after receiving notice that his position would be affected by workforce restructuring one year earlier. At the time, the report said he was working on a review of rail tank cars, including the Class 111 cars that were involved in the fatal Lac-Megantic, Que., disaster.

Five engineers in the union, who worked with Gagnon in a division that focused on dangerous cargo transportation, received notice their jobs were affected by budget cuts and three retired, the union said. Transport Canada said it would provide a response on Friday.

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