Elizabeth May Introduces Open Science Private Member’s Bill

OTTAWA — Elizabeth May, Member of Parliament for Saanich-Gulf Islands and Leader of the Green Party of Canada introduced her open science private member’s bill in the House of Commons today. The bill would make all publicly funded scientific research publicly accessible by law.

Ms. May stated: “My bill will ensure that no prime minister can ever bury government science again. While this problem is not new, the Harper years have seen a shocking burial of evidence into places where Canadians will never see it. The work our scientists do is too important to be hidden from view, simply because it is inconvenient to the Prime Minister’s agenda. The challenges we face require an open and transparent engagement with the facts.”

Lynne Quarmby Green Party Science critic and candidate for Burnaby North-Seymour added: “Democracy only works when everyone has the facts. When a government suppresses scientific evidence, especially from research that the public has funded, democracy is subverted. This is critically true for evidence that contradicts decisions driven by ideology. The private members bill tabled by Elizabeth May will ensure timely public access to publicly funded data.”

Ms. May concluded: “If we are going to survive this century, we need to move away from decision-based evidence-making and truly make evidence-based decisions. Public access to publicly funded science would help ensure that the government relies on the facts, not on ideology. Science is too important to democracy to be kept in a government vault.”

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