Canada is in many ways a powerhouse of academic science: its university researchers are prolific publishers and strong contributors to the national research and development enterprise. Yet Canadian government policy does far too little to support and utilize this strength…

Scientists’ calls for more coordinated funding through a national polar policy have been falling on deaf ears for decades, in governments dominated by both centre-left liberals and right-wing conservatives. A similar lack of action has greeted Canadian scientists’ calls for a decision on replacing the aging nuclear reactor at Chalk River in Ontario, which is not only their primary site for nuclear research, but is also relied on for much of the world’s supplies of medical isotopes. The most recent national budget distributed a reduced portion of money in ways that dismayed the science community –not least because it provided no funds for Genome Canada, an internationally competitive genomics and proteomics program…

And Canada has nothing comparable to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, which is headed by a science adviser who reports directly to the U.S. president. Canada did have a science adviser to the prime minister during 2004—08, but he was largely sidelined before the position was terminated. (There is currently only a “minister of state” for science and technology, a junior post that lies within the industry ministry.) The council that replaced the science adviser is entirely reactive to government queries, and produces reports that traditionally are not made public.

One reason for this apparent neglect of science may be that Canada is so big and its population so small. Bodies that help to inform the government about science, such as the Council of Canadian Academies, have neither the membership of their U.S. equivalents nor the historical clout of those in Britain… Perhaps this leads the government to see scientists as just another interest group, rather than as crucial contributors to the economy.

Whatever the reasons, Canada is failing to make the most of a key national resource. Everyone involved needs to take responsibility. The government should designate a single person to be held accountable for science – either a chief adviser or a fully fledged minister with sufficient power and initiative to set a strong national agenda. Researchers, meanwhile, should find more effective ways of working together and making their voices heard, including becoming part of the political system themselves…

Some critics say Canada has no science policy at all. Others say it has unwritten laws that seem to let it muddle along. But muddling along isn’t good enough in today’s tough economic climate.

Canada needs a bigger vision of where its science is going: a vision informed by organized scientists, and voiced by a strong position in government.