Science and Democracy Under Threat

Sent on behalf of the Communications Committee and Executive Committee

Dear Faculty:

With the federal election around the corner, we wanted to alert you to an important forum on issues that are important to academics and provide some model questions about those issues that can be posed at upcoming all-candidate debates in Waterloo and Brantford. The following provides links to further information:

Forum: Science and Democracy under Threat: What can you do about it?

What has happened to evidence-based policy making in Canada? And what can we do about it? Discuss and debate the issues at this GetScienceRight.ca panel*:

Heidi Swanson, Biology, UWaterloo
Heather Douglas, Philosophy, UWaterloo
Katie Gibbs, Executive Director, Evidence for Democracy

7pm, Thursday, Oct. 1

Waterloo Inn, 475 King St. North, Waterloo

Shuttle buses from the Laurier’s Waterloo campus (click on the link above for more information)

Please share the powerpoint – Science and Democracy Under Threat about the forum with your students.

*co-sponsored by WLUFA, the Waterloo University Faculty Association and St. Jerome’s University Academic Staff Association, Evidence for Democracy and CAUT.

Questions for Federal Election Candidates

The government has been shifting funds from discovery-driven research to commercial research for many years now. It has fired 4,000 of its own researchers and changed peer-review boards to include more political and industry appointees. Wouldn’t you like to know what your politicians know about these changes, and how they propose to respond to them?

Please see the attached questions for candidates that can be posed to your local candidates. More information can be found in this CAUT Election Kit.

· The student newspaper on the Brantford campus, The Sputnik, also has its own Q and A with Brantford federal election candidates here.

All-Candidates Meetings in your Area

Waterloo:

Laurier’s Social Innovation Research Group

Tuesday, Sept. 29, 7 – 9 pm

Faculty of Social Work Building, 129 Duke St. West, Kitchener

More information