NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL - to start working on product development! Another BAD IDEA by the HARPER government

 FUll Text of news item


The near sightedness of the Harper Government - nothing has value unless it serves the interest of the corporations. Could we have just one week where there isn't another misstep coming from the Harper Government? The "Harper Government" is rapidly transforming our country into "Harper Inc" .  The NRC will now use tax dollars to pay for corporate research instead of doing proper research and setting standards for business to follow. The Harper regime is emasculating the NRC in the name of short term profit and long term loss. How long will it take to undo the harm to our long term survival as a nation that the Harper regime is doing?

He promised we wouldn't recognize Canada. He was right

This is not how science works! Basic research is essential to the country and to all of humanity, this is wrong and the conservatives need to wake up on this issue. There is nothing wrong with streamlining and finding efficiencies in any organization.  Science, the basis for innovation and understanding, is often decades or longer ahead of technological application. Isaac Newton and other scientists realized the importance of discoveries and were not dissuaded by the naysayers of their times. You can't get science benefits to business and industry without doing the fundamental science first!


Some of the most worthwhile discoveries in the history of mankind were made as a result of errors or observations while in the study of a totally unrelated project.

Somebody said this:

There are many avenues of fundamental scientific research that are too big or too risky for a university lab, or even a national lab to work on alone. NRC should be the coordinating body for Canada's contribution to international collaborations in areas like astronomy (big telescopes), nuclear physics (atom smashers, like CERN), and many other areas of science. These projects are big, expensive, have no immediate pay-off, but help to answer fundamental questions about the universe and our place in it. Having Canada contribute to these programs gives Canadian scientists (at NRC and universities) access to the results and keeps us at the forefront of science and technology.

"Not everything that can be counted counts...
.... and not everything that counts can be counted" Albert Einstein.

There is nothing wrong with helping business be more competitive. But I can't help feel discouraged that this seems to be yet another attack on "fundamental science" that this Government has taken great pains to hide and/or marginalize because it gets in the way."He says the new focus will overturn an introverted culture in the research council, which has led it away from supporting industry." The NRC, working with industry, can solve practical problems that could provide direct economic benefit. That should be one of the mandates of NRC but not the only mandate.

I agree there should be a balance between short to mid-term research with practical goals, and long term fundamental research, with potentially far-reaching consequences.

But remember that this kind of corporate welfare comes at the expense of seniors and workers.

Inconvenient truths that disprove lies told by business and government get in the way of profit.

"Businesses need help to lower their R&D costs. This move gets the taxpayers to foot more of the bill, over and above the tax credits corporations already get.

NRCC is essentially useless now - rename it the business research council and have it funded entirely by businesses.
Just close it down completely and let industry pay for and do their own R&D work.

NRC has been helping and protecting Canadians while responding equally to business for years... now the Harper Government wants them to stop and begin protecting business only???

Hello! To whom is the government responsible to... the Canadian public... or business???  Government has no business in meddling how scientists should conduct their research.

Goodyear said."The day is past when a researcher could hit a home run simply by publishing a paper on some new discovery."


"National Research Council now focused on serving business"
 swap out the department name and you may get...

"Human Resources and Development now focused on serving business"
"Environment Canada now focused on serving business"
"Canada Revenue Agency now focused on serving business"