Prime Minister Stephen Harper has stated that the approval for the construction of the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline must be based on science. In itself, that is encouraging.
But science to Harper appears to be limited to engineering feasibility (applied science) and economics (a discipline that is often included under the banner "social science"). He appears to forget that environmental reviews are broadly based on sciences of various sorts: ecology, earth sciences and geology, physics, chemistry, microbiology, botany, zoology and the interrelationships between and among these areas of study as they describe the ecosystems that the proposed pipelines might cross.
Then there are the social sciences which look at sociology and the impacts on communities, anthropology and the impacts on cultures, archeology and the potential destruction of heritage sites. Also of prime importance are psychology and the role that our attitudes and values should play in the decision making and choices to be made. Somewhere way down the list is economic impact.
And left out completely in Mr Harper's case is climate science.
The prime minister may have a master's degree in economics, but his grasp of what science entails is conveniently incomplete. And he has made matters immeasurably worse by muzzling or terminating many respected government scientists who could be the most valuable in supplying the answers to the questions Canadians need and want to ask.
Barrie Webster
Victoria
