Canadian Government Executive - Volume 22

/ Canadian Government Executive

// April 2016

Paul

Dufour

A Chief Science Officer

for Canada?

ollowing the various mandate letters from the Trudeau Administration,

the Minister for Science has been asked by the prime minister to es-

tablish a Chief Science Officer (CSO) position to guide and inform gov-

ernment decision-making. The Minister, Kirsty Duncan, has launched a

consultation exercise and is asking for input on what the role and responsibili-

ties of this CSO will be; what priorities should be tackled; and how these will be

communicated to the research community and wider publics.

It’s an ambitious charge for anyone—and has raised expectations that are un-

likely to be met. Canada’s previous attempts at any sustainable structure for sci-

ence advice have all failed. The most recent experiment, the National Science

Advisor (NSA) to the Prime Minister (2003-2008), cratered for several reasons.

The role and mandate of the NSA were not sufficiently well defined. Its relation-

ships with the Minister of Industry, Cabinet, the PMO, Parliament and the other

advisory functions within the federal system where particularly vague.

In her discussions, the new science Minister has also been tapping into expe-

rience and experiments abroad, particularly within Commonwealth countries

where Parliamentary systems resemble those of Canada. The UK, Australia and

New Zealand are countries of choice given their experience in tapping advice

Design

Looking for Models