[Roy G Biv]

Canada's science minister, the man at the centre of the controversy over federal funding cuts to researchers, won't say if he believes in evolution.

“I'm not going to answer that question. I am a Christian, and I don't think anybody asking a question about my religion is appropriate,†Gary Goodyear, the federal Minister of State for Science and Technology, said in an interview with The Globe and Mail.

A funding crunch, exacerbated by cuts in the January budget, has left many senior researchers across the county scrambling to find the money to continue their experiments.

Some have expressed concern that Mr. Goodyear, a chiropractor from Cambridge, Ont., is suspicious of science, perhaps because he is a creationist.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090317.wgoodyear16/BNStory/National/home

Fire this man immediately.

 

[ShonTron]

Gary Goodyear. Name's alliterative, just like Fred Flintstone. Yabba-dabba-doo!

This is the same man who decided to end funding for stem cell research, just before Toronto scientists made a huge stem cell research breakthrough.

 

[Prometheus The Supremo]

wow! this is like having a terrorist as minister of public safety!

who the hell appointed this guy?

“I'm not going to answer that question. I am a Christian, and I don't think anybody asking a question about my religion is appropriate,†Gary Goodyear, the federal Minister of State for Science and Technology, said in an interview with The Globe and Mail.

who asked about his religion?


i wonder if he will get into the whole "it's just a theory" joke?


p.s, it's bad enough he's a creationist and minister of science, but he has to be a chiropractor too? what were they thinking!

 

[Hydrogen]

Journalists should press him on his beliefs concerning evolution.

If Goodyear can't make distinctions between science and his personal beliefs, then it could very well mean that he is not capable of carrying out the responsibilities of his portfolio. He runs the risk of politicizing research on the basis of his religious beliefs.

That he won't comment on evolution on the basis of his Christian beliefs suggests that he can't distinguish the two.

 

[Roy G Biv]

That he won't comment on evolution on the basis of his Christian beliefs suggests that he can't distinguish the two.

And that's where the argument will be muddled by lazy thinkers. Fire him and many Christians will go nuts.

 

[Whoaccio]

At least this isn't as bad as the Pope's Nobel Prize winning revelation that condoms increase the spread of AIDS, who knew?

 

[Roy G Biv]

At least this isn't as bad as the Pope's Nobel Prize winning revelation that condoms increase the spread of AIDS, who knew?

T'was a big day for dogma.

 

[Seymour]

No surprise there from the Harper government. He used to have Bev Oda as Heritage Minister, she knew nothing, has no professional experience in Heritage/Culture issues, now suddenly she's Minister of International Cooperation. She's nothing but a Harper hollow (wo)man.

 

[Roy G Biv]

No surprise there from the Harper government. He used to have Bev Oda as Heritage Minister, she knew nothing, has no professional experience in Heritage/Culture issues, now suddenly she's Minister of International Cooperation. She's nothing but a Harper hollow (wo)man.

To be fair, it isn't a prerequisite that ministers have in-depth knowledge of their portfolios. They are there to manage.

That being said, this is still ridiculous.

This is more of a PR disaster, as it will end up as an international embarassment for Canada.

 

[cacruden]

To be fair, it isn't a prerequisite that ministers have in-depth knowledge of their portfolios. They are there to manage.

That being said, this is still ridiculous.

This is more of a PR disaster, as it will end up as an international embarassment for Canada.

Actually, they are not there to manage, just set high level policy direction. The civil service profession is there to manage. Our system is not a system that encourages a competent ministers for each of the portfolios. You elect maybe 130 to 150 on the governing side, most of which are interested in politics mainly, a large number are probably lawyers, which are hired based not based on their knowledge - but based on representing a region -- i.e. more of a salesman. Then the PM is expected to pick 30+ from that pool and turn them into ministers (a large number are there just because they were in the right party at the time) -- and then people expect them to be competent? Even the company I work for would not hire one out of every sixth applicant, and those supposedly have the skills in the area that we are hiring for....

What makes it worse is when the ministers actually think they know what they are doing

 

[Prometheus The Supremo]

This is more of a PR disaster, as it will end up as an international embarassment for Canada.

they're gonna start referring to us as can-a-duh!

If Goodyear can't make distinctions between science and his personal beliefs, then it could very well mean that he is not capable of carrying out the responsibilities of his portfolio. He runs the risk of politicizing research on the basis of his religious beliefs.

but don't we have to respect his beliefs? surely we could accommodate his beliefs by changing the way we conduct science in canada?

if he loses his job over this, ben stein is gonna be all over it. EXPELLED! no inteligunce allowad!

you can hear the headline now: "minister of science loses job because he refused to adhere to nazi darwinian ideology in the atheist & intolerant state of canada".

 

[Roy G Biv]

Actually, they are not there to manage, just set high level policy direction.

And I doubt even that is true, in a Harper cabinet.

Thanks for clarifying, although I think we can both agree that this isn't necessarily a good defense of Goodyear. It makes us look like a joke.

 

[kEiThZ]

Personally, I don't care if a person believes in the tooth fairy as long as it does not impact their ability to carry out their duties in the workplace.

In this case, it certainly is a disturbing coincidence that funding for stem cell research was deferred while a minister running the ministry does not believe in evolution. The media should press him on his belief about the promotion of his religious views. Where do his religious beliefs end and where do his professional views as Minister of Science begin? For example, we often have Catholic politicians who do support a woman's right to have an abortion and the rights of homosexuals to marry. They are able to separate their religious beliefs from their political beliefs. Where does this minister stand on that divide should be the issue. The fact that he personally does not believe in evolution should not necessarily preclude him from being the Minister of Science. That would be discrimination when the bar we should be setting is competence.

All that being said, politically, this makes for bad optics. From the article, it's clear he was picked because they hope he would promote more applied research in Canada. However, one has to wonder about the PMO's vetting process when they pick a guy like that for a job like that. It's just asking for controversy.

 

[ShonTron]

At best it's bad optics, though the Conservatives have to appeal to their 'base' just as the leaders of the GOP (which are more on the business/conservative side rather than the religious-right side) pander to the Christian Right. There's certainly lots of reason for suspicion.

An NDP MP from Windsor was banned from serving in his Catholic parish by the very conservative Bishop of London for voting for same sex marriage. Canadians in general don't wear their religions on their sleeves. Even many, if not most, Americans know how to do that, but are overshadowed by the prominent and well funded evangelical groups there (which are not nearly as prominent here).

 

[Brian69]

While the influence would not likely be as direct as what happened to science under the Bush administration (and for which I am thankful Obama has stated he'll “restore science to its rightful placeâ€) this kind of thing makes me uneasy.

Having a minister of transportation being a creationist is less of an issue than a science minister. The federal cuts to researchers, while not being totally unexpected, just makes things look worse.