Has the Canadian government recently dismissed a net of 2,000 scientists?

Asked Jan 12 '14 at 08:44

Active Jul 12 '14 at 00:42

Viewed 250 times

In the past five years the federal government has dismissed more than 2,000 scientists, and hundreds of programs and world-renowned research facilities have lost their funding.

Claims like this are being used to suggest there is an "attack on science" by the Canadian government.

“What’s important is the scale of the assault on knowledge, and on our ability to know about ourselves and to advance our understanding of our world,” said James Turk, executive director of the Canadian Association of University Teachers.

Were more than 2,000 scientists dismissed because their projects left unfunded? Is this just a case where the government has shifted funding to other new science programs and while 2000 positions may have been cut a similar number have been created in other projects? Or is there some other explanation?

edited Jul 12 '14 at 00:42

Sklivvz

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asked Jan 12 '14 at 08:44

Celeritas

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No matter the truth or falsehood of the claim, it would help to know how many total scientist receive such funding per year and what the usual turnover is. – dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten Jan 14 '14 at 23:51
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Yes the usual turnover is important, perhaps it's nothing unusual to dismiss 2000 scientists a year in Canada. – Celeritas Jan 15 '14 at 00:03

Has the Canadian government recently dismissed a net of 2,000 scientists?

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