Statement made on 30 September 2009 by Senator Terry Mercer
Hon. Terry M. Mercer:
Honourable senators, my question is for the Leader of the Government in the Senate. On January 1, 2010, right-wing ideology will continue its assault on research and development in this country with a massive 30 per cent budget cut to the Canadian Institute for Scientific and Technical Information, known as CISTI. CISTI is Canada's national science library, a creation by statute under the National Research Council Act that supplies Canadian researchers, hospitals and universities with the scientific and technical information they need.
As a result of a program review, Prime Minister Harper and his friends have instructed agencies, including the NRC, to cut back as much as possible. This is why CISTI is being cut.
Can the Leader of the Government in the Senate explain why, in this era of stimulus, the Harper Conservatives are cutting funding to research that supplies jobs in institutions in many cities?
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