Roger Voyer

The National Science Adviser

Now you see him, now you don't

By Roger Voyer

The recent termination of the National Science Adviser position, held by Dr Arthur Carty, is just the latest installment in the saga to place science and technology policy at centre stage in Canada. This history has had its ups and downs — mainly downs.

It all began on an upbeat note in 1964 with the establishment of a Science Secretariat within the Privy Council Office. Its director was the government's science adviser. This body operated until 1971 when its was folded into the newly formed Ministry of State for Science and Technology (MOSST), a junior level policy ministry.

This move pushed science and technology policy considerations away from the centre of the government machinery, although the secretary of that ministry had the title of science adviser. MOSST was largely ineffectual. It came to be considered a training ground for junior ministers. It had five reorganizations and 13 ministers between 1971 and 1986 and was disbanded shortly thereafter.

In parallel, the Science Council of Canada was created in 1966 to give external independent advice on science policy. Initially it had representatives from academia, industry and the federal government. The government representatives were soon removed because of a perceived conflict of interest since they were inside the government machinery and as such could not give independent advice.

The first chairman of the Science Council was Dr O.M. Solandt, chancellor of the University of Toronto, who had a long and distinguished science-related career beginning in the Second World War. Solandt knew the prime minister, several politicians and officials on a personal basis. Because of these personal relationships he became the de facto national science adviser.

This status was short-lived, however. When Pierre Trudeau became prime minister in 1968, the close personal relationship that Dr Solandt enjoyed with the political level disappeared. Trudeau was an outsider who brought with him fresh faces, especially from Quebec.

With direct access to power now limited, the Science Council turned its energies to engaging public discussion and in this way hopefully influencing government science policy indirectly. While it was very successful at engaging public debate with its thrusts on ‘innovation in a cold climate', ‘the conserver society' and ‘technological sovereignty' for example, its impact on policy development remained questionable. The Science Council continued in this vein until it was closed down by the Mulroney government in 1992 along with other advisory bodies that could possibly embarrass it, including the Economic Council.

continuing procession of advisory bodies

The vacuum in science policy advice was filled by Industry Canada, which formulated a number of science and technology strategies over the years. As well, other attempts were made to get external input into policy development. In 1987, the Conservatives established the National Advisory Board on Science and Technology (NABST) to provide the prime minister with advice on S&T goals and policies. Once it had been launched with great fanfare, the prime minister rarely attended meetings of NABST. It went on to publish a number of reports before being disbanded in 1995.

Another attempt was the Council of Science and Technology Advisors (CSTA) created in 1998. Drawing its members from the external bodies that advise individual departments, the CSTA was established to integrate this external advice to improve the management of federal S&T. This body gave advice and produced reports until its mandate expired on May 17, 2007.

A new attempt to put science and technology concerns at centre stage was made in 2004 with the creation of the National Science Adviser (NSA) position with an office in the Privy Council Office. This was billed as the first time that this had happened. The early history had clearly been forgotten. Georges Santayana said it best, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it".

The incumbent, Dr Carty, took the position on April 1st (an omen?) of that year.

With the arrival of the Harper government, the position was first downgraded, with the National Science Adviser's office shifted to Industry Canada and with the NSA reporting to that minister instead of the prime minister. Then the position was recently eliminated.

The Industry minister attempted to rationalize this decision by saying that much of the work of the NSA will be undertaken by the new Science, Technology and Innovation Council (STIC) announced in May 2007. The Industry minister, not the prime minister, announced the members of STIC on October 18, 2007. So this body is not central. Three deputy ministers were appointed as well as representatives from business and academia. This puts these three individuals in a conflict of interest position in giving independent advice while being inside government. The Science Council of Canada had to remove public servants from its deliberations early on.

So the cycle goes on. Now you have a National Science Adviser, now you don't. We continue to muddle through with an assortment of advisory bodies whose effectiveness remains questionable since they only have loose ties to a power structure that does not value science and technology very highly. But the show must go on.

Roger Voyer is a former research director of the Science Council of Canada.